Drawing Life 9
“We sit down before the picture in order to have something done to us, not that we may do things with it. The first demand any work of art makes upon us is surrender. Look. Listen. Receive. Get yourself out of the way.â€
CS Lewis Experiments in Art Criticism
We sit down to make art in order to surrender. We do not sit down in order to impose ourselves on the page; we sit down in order to surrender. To look, to listen, to receive. To get ourselves out of the way.
It’s so much easier than all the effort we once applied to the task, so much more interesting, once we get the hang of it. We have to be fully in the moment, fully open. We have to let things happen, whatever they are. And enjoy.
It was our third week of class on Saturday and the work that is being done is astonishing. We don’t spend much time drawing what is in front of us. We spend time receiving. It feels like playing. And everyone receives something different. That’s the thrill.
The image above is a small piece of a bigger piece. When I cut it out I destroyed the bigger piece. What comes is infinite. We don’t need to hold onto anything.
November 15th, 2006 at 10:41 am
again, I can say that I know this truth about my writing. I never felt moved to draw (except for that one giant sketch pad I filled the year after high school, with pencil drawings of my feet) but the writing has always been there. But it’s always there strongest when I get out of my own way.
I love this series you do, it’s so affirming.