"I Can't Paint"

(drawings by someone who said he can't draw)

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Caroline always starts her painting class with exercises to loosen us up and get us into our right brain. This exercise is called blind contour drawing. You and another person, in this case, our friend Shannon, face each other and let the pen be your eyes...you draw their face without looking. The above is my drawing of Shannon, below is hers of me...I think they are pretty cool and very Picasso-ish.

Then, we got down to painting and I had this painting I really wanted to be done with, but felt stuck...

(this painting I started months ago and was pretty much done, but Caroline helped me make the background less flat-don't have a pic of that; acrylic on canvas)

(These are sketches I did at a drawing marathon workshop...these were 3-5 minute poses; charcoal on paper)

(This is a self portrait I did several years ago, haha...water color on paper...I need to do more water color, but it intimidates me!)

"I can't paint, I'll just come and hang out," my friend said when he expressed interest in joining me at Caroline's Tuesday night Painting On the Right Side of the Brain class held at the renovated Harvey Milk Rec Center. "That's ridiculous, nobody can paint and everybody can paint...you are just moving color around with a brush...you can't come and sit there."

Well, he did come and, while he did not paint, he drew these amazing drawings (The first two above...this was an exercise in drawing from upside down pictures which we did at the first class...the second pic is from a photo of Oscar Wilde). This is someone who is obviously creative, but doesn't believe he is. Most of us are that way. I get really discouraged when my little students tell me "I can't draw"..."I made a mistake,"...Kindergarteners are much more open with art. They will repeat my mantra, "There are no mistakes in art!" They are so open with taking one art project a step further. It's like the door opened and they are finding all those other doors just waiting for us. And, the other wonderful thing is how making art gets us out of our chatty, logical, annoying left brain! When I'm drawing or painting, I'm not thinking...I just am so absorbed...it's really hard to explain and no drug or drink can get me to that place. When I finish, I feel so high and energetic. That alone has been pushing me to paint almost every day since I started this class...So, if you need a break from your thinking, just sit down with pen and paper and draw; it doesn't matter what!

Caroline sent me this quote that I want to share here:

"There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and as there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium;and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others. "
~Martha Graham