Two centimeters of thoughts

It is funny how we can name a thing and “know” what it is, but miss it entirely. In the process of naming something it is essential to reduce its complexity to a stereotype, and in that reduction we neglect the individual characteristics of it. I have just spent an hour trying not to reduce a 2cm pinecone into every other pinecone I have seen by observing it and transferring that onto a piece of paper. “Sketching” in other words.
One of my goals is to learn to paint gardens (and cats, of course). I found an easel at MCC for 3$ so I bought it, and promptly told Dennis that I had done so, and wished at some point this summer to paint his garden. He seemed relatively excited about the idea, so I have enough motivation to begin the process of learning how to paint gardens. (Yes, I am fueled by pleasing people—It has gotten me into trouble upon occasion, but there can be legitimate good from this motivation…)

How ever does one go about learning to paint a landscape? Well, much thought has been given to this—usually as I drive from Otterburne to Steinbach looking at the landscapes and wondering how I might portray them. I have now come to see that first I must learn to portray distance, shape, and the dimensions of shadows and light, not to mention all the complexities colour adds to the whole thing. So learning to paint starts with learning to sketch, and this sketching begins with learning to see.

My mother knew what she was doing after all when she had us sit down and draw still life. I thought it was the most dull exercise at the time. Drawing bread and oranges had far less appeal than unicorns, fairies and raccoons back then. I now return to the basic lessons I abandoned so long ago—back when I knew far more than I know now…

It is a little humiliating when a 2cm pinecone requires all the skill, focus and patience you can muster simply to give it a good definition. I realize that drawing is not actually dissimilar to writing a paper. I think that I am in the stage of learning how to define; I am learning to define in my mind the nuances and differences of this particular pinecone, and I think that is the first essential thing to drawing. Anyone can draw a pinecone, just like anyone can write a paper—the challenge is to articulate the particular nuances of the argument and source your work well. This pinecone was a little two page paper—my first. Someday I hope to write a 20 pager. For now, I will stick to little pinecones, leaves and maybe venture a flower…