Two very quick drafts. I'm continuing to practice drawing Celtic Knots. These were done on incredibly cheap blue scratch paper. This first one I actually did not intend to ink--I thought I would do a quick pencil draft (and did), but then decided to spend the time inking it. This was freehand and done in a rush. In the draft below, I used a technique from a YouTube video to create a classic border. Since this was my first attempt, I used the same super-cheap blue scratch paper. This one took longer only because it had so many knots, but I still thought I would leave it just as pencil practice. And just as in the other case, I decided to take the time to ink it in. There's something so irresistible about "correcting" the sloppy pencil lines. Once again, this was drafted very fast. While this is far-from-perfect (see the spots of white where I've corrected some "blobby" lines, not to mention the different sizes of lines), I notice that the eye tends to smooth things out and make it look better than it actually is. That's ok with me!
In the spirit of "Progress, Not Perfection," I am viewing sloppy progress as being better than no progress at all. Here is my third "practice knot," done quickly in one of my journals. The lines are wonky but given how quickly I did it I'm pleased. I copied this from a handout I got from my friend (and teacher of drawing knots) Sadelle Witshire. The fact that it's a direct copy may not sound like much, but it's the first time I actually figured out (from looking at a finished knot) what the actual steps for drawing should be. That felt like a solid accomplishment! I've been busy at home, continuing to unpack and sort things out. I treated the guest room wall to a new hand-painted mirror from the Sawmill River Arts Gallery, a wonderful artist owned spot. And in sorting some things out in the basement, I located a long-lost, large quantity of linen for rug hooking--many, many yards. I'd bought a whole roll of this with a friend and we split the roll. Probably at least five years ago. And then, oddly, we each proceeded to lose the linen. It disappeared in each of our houses, and no matter how hard we searched, we couldn't find it. How do you lose a huge amount of linen? But we did, and eventually we began to wonder if the idea that we had ever bought it and split the purchase was some form of folie a deux. However, I found mine last week. We have proof! And better yet, I can now use it. Hurrah! And finally, I'm happy to be reading this: Reckless Daughter, a Joni Mitchell biography, a loan from our excellent library that I've been waiting for. A pretty good few days here. You know, I'm not much of a fan of drawing hearts. I like seeing them when others draw them, but somehow I am just not attracted to doing it myself. But in trying to learn to draw knots, I was asked to do just that--draw a simple heart border and convert it to Celtic interlaced knots. And when I finished, I was most definitely thinking about hearts--our globally connected hearts--and how much pain the world is in today. The focus required to draw interconnecting bands on knots reminds me of how we forget every day that we are dependent on each other to survive, and dependent on each other's love and kindness. We forget and forget and forget. I want to remember. There was another school shooting in the US today. My heart breaks, and continues to break, because of these repetitive, mindless, violent, deadly shootings, the innocent victims, and their families. It felt very right to be drawing hearts, and connecting them. Here's what I ended up with: Certainly the calligraphy isn't great because this is just a practice draft, but I am happy with the final result. Here was where I began (Step One in pencil), and below that, here's what it looked like inked in (Step Two).: I've been taking a fabulous SkillShare Course on Celtic Knots offered by Sadelle Wiltshire, of whom I am a fangirl. She makes wonderful art you can see on her webpages, HERE or HERE. Interlaced. Interconnected. We are. We must be. When will we learn to remember? "Having a soft heart in a cruel world is courage, not weakness."
--Katherine Henson I indulged myself today and spent a lot of the day drawing. Now, I should know that feeling smug is never a good sign. We all know that, right? But oh my, it's so easy to forget. I have been working on drawing knots, because I like the focus they require and the meditative state they produce, much like the Zentangle® process. I had tried some basic exercises and did well, so I was feeling like, "Hey--piece of cake. I got this! No sweat." Um, no. I didn't. My first attempt today was a total debacle. I've titled it, "Three Wrongs Do Not Make a Right." Here it is. See the bottom knot. The top one was so simple that it came out fine, but the moment I tried something even slightly complicated... Confused--oh yes, I sure was. And totally not in a meditative space. I couldn't understand how I'd gone so wrong. It was clearly time to go to yoga class, so I did. Ran some errands. Came back again and was determined to re-do it and have it work. A couple of hours later (along with one additional complete meltdown, during which I was convinced I'd screwed up again), I'd produced this. This might just qualify as my first knot! I was thrilled, but I sure hope this gets easier. At the meltdown point, when I was convinced that I'd gotten it all wrong again, I considered giving up entirely. But after a short walk, I came back and checked it and suddenly it looked fine. ??!! I have a lot to learn here, that's for sure. As a celebration, I did a 5-minute sketch of my DunkinDonuts cup. Last night I finally found a water-soluble pen and so I did this sketch in less than 5 minutes and then used my waterbrush to spread some of the ink. Total time spent on this was about 7 minutes. Fun. Hardly a masterpiece but I do feel like I'm keeping my hand in again with drawing. We learn the rope of life by untying its knots. --Jean Toomer Clearly I'll need a quote to put on the page I just worked on today (below). Nothing has come to me yet. It's just begging for a quote, though. I don't think the page is finished, either. This is inspired by my new journal cover (see yesterday's post). I'm "knot good" at knots, but I am beginning to become interested in them.
A friend in Thailand who knows I make rugs sent me this utterly hilarious (but scary) link to a Black Hole Rug. I laughed out loud when I saw it...not that I'd want one! Check it out. I finished a long-cherished old journal last night and started a new one today. I'm consciously trying to incorporate a lot of drawing into my journals, and it was hard to say goodbye to the old one as it's chock full of drawings. But then I looked at the cover for my new journal and somehow I ended up doing this little drawing as an opener for it. Inspiration posted below. Everyone has to start somewhere. Right? Whoa.
|
ABOUT ME I'm a textile artist (traditional rug hooking, punch needle rug hooking, and other textile arts), a long-time meditator, a certified meditation teacher and coach, and focused on learning about the interplay of art, creativity, and mindfulness every day. Categories
All
Archives
March 2024
|