drawing as meditation

[nobodyslave]

Wow! Fantastic work NewOrleans!

I used to paint landscapes, and found it to be very therapeutic.

You have an amazing talent, thanks for sharing.

 

[Zadius Sky]

Wow, NewOrleans. This is really breath-taking. It's a beautiful work.

I used to draw by hand back in college and they were usually of landscapes and I've found them to be quite relaxing, personally.

 

[cdh4r]

beautiful indeedy!

 

[bngenoh]

Here's one of mine, a Margay from a while back:

I've gotta brush up on my skills, but I am partial to felines and females so that's what I'm gonna be working on. I am a pencil, paper and eraser man myself.

 

[Zadius Sky]

Here's one of mine, a Margay from a while back:

That is beautiful, bngenoh. :)

I've managed to find one of mine (which was drawn with color pencils in 2004 on a white big board):

I'm more of a landscape kind of guy. :D

 

[3DStudent]

Thanks for sharing bngenoh and Zadius Sky. I've been trying to get back into drawing myself as well. I'm kind of self-conscious and find it hard to try to draw something every day. I've done a little watercolor painting for family members recently and want to tighten up my proportion and perspective.

 

[NewOrleans]

Always good to see other people's drawings.

Zadius Sky, the good thing about drawing is that once you commit to seeing and expressing honestly, the self-consciousness goes away. Try drawing something and then, instead of admiring or criticizing, just hang it up on a wall for a day or two.

bngenoh, you have very sensitive handling of a pencil. Cats are great models, because they stay put just long enough. I'll post one of my cat drawings if you like.... Since I have a new black cat, she's in endless poses when not under the bed.

 

[topdrawer]

Drawing has always come naturally to me. I cannot understand why everyone isn't able to do it. I draw every day. Drawing from a subject consists in aiming and measuring. In a way, these are the same processes that are involved many common human activities, driving a car safely on a freeway for example. Constant monitoring and evaluating distance, velocity, and proximity of other vehicles, (aiming and measuring). Drawing, not from a subject, but rather from intuition or imagination can greatly enhance introspection and meditation.

 

[H-KQGE]

Artmaking is a natural gift most people lose by age eleven. Kids are innocent and so they see everything until they're socialized to forget. Really seeing is how I understand Gurdjieff's teachings as I translate that into art. A drawing is a trick pointing to something real..... We work on ourselves only, and so everything becomes a self-portrait.

Realistic drawing takes real focus, an understanding of light, patience and what I can only call tenderness for Creation. Maybe it's too obvious to say out loud sometimes, but whether it's a tree or a night sky or a girl's profile, we are surrounded by a miracle and hardly notice. It's not daydreaming. To be able to catch that moment-in-Time by doing a simple thing right is a very small accomplishment in the rush of the modern world so lacking in beauty. Unless you take a second to notice.

You & bngenoh are very fortunate to have such a talent. I would gladly relinquish half of my childhood talents just to be able to draw/paint to at least a semi-realistic level. I totally agree about children seeing until socialized to forget. That obviously doesn't help, but worst (still a part of socialization) are the things we ingest & are taught is food that would go against such natural creative expression through chemical manipulation. Imagine all the people with such gifts retaining them long into adulthood, imagine the probably greater amount who could learn/unlock potential. Shame.

For me, although being utterly useless at drawing, i have a good understanding of music which is very therapeutic. Regardless of the lack of abovementioned talent, i love landscapes & wildlife, just taking time to stop & watch the sky, the pattern of the clouds & the light interactions. The gentle swaying of leaves in the wind & rich colours.... always takes me away to some uknown place in a different time & i just breathe...then thoughts of my current life come crashing in & makes me teary every time.
Ah well, at least i can utilize EE whilst admiring nature's beauty,(& probably cry bucket-loads more!) hopefully before the impending fire & brimstone events really take off. Good to see the full spectrum of talents on the forum. Thanks for the pics.

 

[Leòmhann]

Drawing has always come naturally to me. I cannot understand why everyone isn't able to do it. I draw every day. Drawing from a subject consists in aiming and measuring. In a way, these are the same processes that are involved many common human activities, driving a car safely on a freeway for example. Constant monitoring and evaluating distance, velocity, and proximity of other vehicles, (aiming and measuring). Drawing, not from a subject, but rather from intuition or imagination can greatly enhance introspection and meditation.

topdrawer, thank you so much for posting here today, as it gave me a chance to see this topic and read its corresponding thread. :D

Plus, I love what you say about drawing from intuition or imagination. This resonates with me insofar as, when I was actively engaged in astrology, after the charts were cast, the real fun began during interpretation, which taps the creativity of imagination coupled with the contemplation of keyword building blocks and seed ideas/meanings.

I liken this process to bridging left and right brain hemispheric activity in such a way as to reach a point where intuition shines in and provides rays of inspiration.

Interestingly, as is so often the case it seems, intuitive insight and inspiration would arrive spontaneously when least expected, typically only after a great deal of work (analysis and contemplation dedicated to whatever contextual "cracking of the code" was underway at the time) was previously performed.

Not sure if this is universally experienced with regard to this inspirational process, but to me it is plain as day, almost axiomatic, that, in order to have a creative breakthrough, some sort of engagement (usually reaching a pinnacle of activity, a crescendo) needs to take place; the "problem" or the subject being worked on often leads one to a seemingly insurmountable hurdle or block (uncrackable code) or set of hurdles/blocks; and most frequently the answer in the form of inspiration (aha! eureka!) comes after release or surrender from the work's engagement - particularly when one's involvement has reached a critical level of intensity - while one is actively immersed in other activities (often mundane tasks).

Again, thank you so much. And, thanks also to NewOrleans, bngenoh, and Zadius Sky for sharing your wonderful works of art!!! Love them all!

 

[HowToBe]

Thanks to NewOrleans, bngenoh, and Zadius Sky for sharing your creations, and to everyone for their comments. Makes me want to turn out some complete works myself, which I haven't done in quite a while.

 

[HowToBe]

By the way, since the theme is "drawing as meditation", is anyone here familiar with "Zentangle®"? It's basically a structured sort of doodling created by Maria Thomas who is a calligraphist and her husband Rick Roberts who used to be a buddhist monk.

Their idea seems to be to open up the meditative benefits of mindful drawing/doodling to a wider audience via clear but flexible instructions for drawing patterns. As someone who has doodled on my own for years (I began in school as you might expect ), I find it both interesting and inspiring although I'm a little put off by their legal page (here: http://www.zentangle.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=28&Itemid=29), particularly the part about "Writing about the Zentangle method, art or company".

When I first discovered them I was rather put off by their legal terms which seemed restrictive to me; I was a bit worried that they were trying to trademark doodling or something. I'm not sure if their terms have softened since then or if I was overreacting at the time, but it doesn't seem like too big of a deal now. What do you guys think?

In any case, you can read about it at zentangle.com and there is also a database of "tangle patterns" at http://tanglepatterns.com/ .

I think it's pretty cool, although perhaps a bit hyped. But if it inspires some folks to draw, relax, and be mindful who otherwise would be too intimidated to pick up a pen or pencil, I guess that's great!

In fact, I just checked and there has now (actually last year) been a study indicating that Zentangle is an effective mindfulness exercise:

Zentangle: Evaluation of a Mindfulness Activity

A recent pilot study concluded that Zentangle is a mindfulness activity (1). Also, when comparing a group of post test scores after 1 hour of Zentangle instruction, including 10 minutes of independent practice, the participants experienced mindfulness process post test scores equivalent to a group who participated in a 1 hour a week 16 week mindfulness focused treatment (2). Thus, the Zentangle process appears to be an efficient way to create a state of mindfulness. Consistent with the increasing amount of recent mindfulness research, the practice of Zentangle as a mindfulness activity could benefit the individual both mentally and physically. Such benefits include but are not limited to psychological wellbeing (3-6), decreased mental health symptoms, such as depression (7), anxiety (8), and stress (9 -11). In addition to being useful in the treatment of chronic pain (12), fibromyalgia (13-14), improving brain function and immune response (15), blood pressure (16) and insomnia (17).

Thought some of you might find that interesting.