In My Solitude
In my last post I wrote about turning my studio into a retreat, my own private Breadloaf, a one-woman MacDowell Colony. There my imagination would roam unhindered by worries about everything that’s going on in the world at large, and the publishing world in particular.
Such a charming idea. But I want to change the rules slightly. I want to bring along one outside influence: a cheerleader. This person would pull up a chair beside me at the drawing table and at frequent intervals exclaim, “Yes! Yes! Way to go, Kate! You rock!” etc. These eruptions would occur not so often as to be annoying, and never without good reason. A cheerleader with poor critiquing powers would be worse than nothing.
Here’s an example of how it would work: Just last week I set out to paint a potted geranium in four different styles. Great project, right? But I ended up with four lookalikes. I promptly decided I was in a rut, and my spirits sank to the bottom. This is when my cheerleader would step in and point out everything that, in my state of gloom, I had missed: “Wow! Great color choices! Look how you handled those shadows! And say – you didn’t obsessively try to draw every leaf and stem! Rah! Rah! Rah!”
And having thus been hoisted out of the rut I thought I was in, I would see that the usefulness of the 4-geranium exercise was to give me confidence for the next experiment.
Of course I don’t really have an opening for a cheerleader here. Keeping one’s chin up is part of the job description for being self-employed in the arts. Luckily you get better at leading your own cheers the more you do it. And luckily there are writers’ groups to go to, where the chance to hear some real applause awaits.
So I won’t be bringing in that extra chair for my drawing table. But maybe I’ll think about investing in a set of pom-poms.
Tags: art confidence critiquing drawing exercise drawing table getting out of a rut imagination in a rut publishing self-direction self-employed studio writers' groups
July 14th, 2010 at 10:27 am
Where would we be without writer-buddies, friends who have been there, totally alone with their art and their inner demons – and have lived to tell the tale? We may meet over kitchen tables or in community centers, but we do meet. I think my friends (including you, Kate!) are all that have kept me writing over the years. And especially now, when the publishing world is filling with swirling gray mists and wraiths and spooks,we do need real, flesh and bones companions. Today I’ll cheer you. Tomorrow, you can wave those pom-poms for me. Together, we’ll get through!
July 14th, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Kathleen is so right – writer friends are amazing. My biggest writing regret is that I slogged along for so many years without any!
Rah, rah, Kate. Amazing geraniums – carry on!
July 15th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Ooo… Pom poms. Yes, we should all invest in some of those.
I’m cheering you from over here, Kate.