Our drawing class started up again on Saturday with some new members. We spent some time doing abstract drawings so we could get the feel of everybody’s hand and explore the pure possibility of line and shade. Then we moved onto imaginary landscapes and tried to bring those lines, smudges, shadings into them. I think the new people were relieved; their drawings didn’t have to look like anything. But it can be hard to just play too. It looks like we’re not going anywhere but inspired play is so necessary to art and creativity.

Once again we listened to The Essential Leonard Cohen. The art got bolder.

That same night, by chance, Dear A and I watched Leonard Cohen, I’m Your Man. It’s half documentary, half concert. The director interviews Cohen and various artists perform his songs to varying degrees of success. But the words really open you up. The best performance was the last, when Cohen performed with U2, Bono and the rest ever so respectful.The devotion of all the artists in the film was just great.

Cohen says he considers himself to be a minor writer. I wouldn’t say that but the devotion to just doing the work day after day is major inspiration. I’m going to assign the film for homework.

The brilliance of the internet is that we get to see what we wouldn’t see. Now see this—The Little People Street Art Project. Slinkachu, aged twenty-seven, British, has carved and painted tiny little people and installed them on the roads in London. They are, ooh, so fantastic and touching. Come February we can buy photographic prints of one of these installations. Love the imagination. Brilliant fun. Art on the planet.

Our drawing class met last Saturday again and I dreamt up a few new things for us to explore. It’s a nonlinear class; the idea being that whatever we do serves the greater good and practice yields gifts of skill and insight. It surprises me how thrilling it is for everyone. We’re just drawing, after all. Some of the class haven’t drawn since childhood and others have drawn off and on. I’m the teacher and I’ve drawn for a living for thirty years and it’s as thrilling for me as it is for them.

It’s because we’re going somewhere. And every time we do something new we take notice but don’t attach. We’re practicing staying open to inspiration and seeing what comes next. There’s no judgment, only discernment. We look to see what we’ve done and for each of us it’s different, without fail.

On Saturday we practiced drawing faces. I showed them how to draw a simple oval and then draw a face in a stylized way. We cranked up the music, something full of longing this time—Leonard Cohen. Something to open the veins of feeling. And everyone did something interesting with such a simple exercise.

Two people had real artistic breakthroughs. They did work beyond what they thought they could, beyond expectation. True creative exploration that surprised us all. It’s what happens when people gather together in good spirit to focus on doing something for themselves. To just be and experience. Now we take that same spirit into our lives. It all gets curiouser and curiouser.