Bringing Art to Light
Las Meninas by Diego Velásquez in The Prado
Art was not a part of my family’s vocabulary. My working class parents believed in work, religion and work. Even though I grew up in the Chicago area, I never went to the Art Institute as a child. But I was fortunate to take a high school trip to Spain with my Spanish teacher. When we visited the Prado - my first art museum experience - I was stunned that one of my classmates seemed to know about art. As we stood in front of Diego Velásquez’s painting Las Meninas, my friend talked about the brushwork and composition. Where the hell had he learned that? I didn’t know but I wanted to find out.
Luckily, in my sophomore year at Northwestern, I got a work-study job in the university library’s Art Collection. It was in the old wing that was built (as I would later learn in art history classes) in the neo-gothic style with pointed arches and huge windows. It reminded me of the church I attended.
My only duties were sitting at the front desk to check bags for “forgotten books” before they walked off and re-shelving the books strewn around the tables after use. I had a lot of time to read those books and look at the pictures. When I met one of the professors from the Art History Department, he noticed my interest and encouraged me to take his course. I did and I was hooked.
Since then not only have I been to the Art Institute many times but other art museums around the world. Looking at art is one of my passions. But making art is not.
I have said over and over again I am not an artist. Recently I’ve amended that statement to "not a visual artist.” But I so admire people who can paint and draw and have always wanted to join them. This January for some strange reason (turning 69?) when DrawTogether With WendyMac popped into my Substack feed, I decided to take the plunge and commit to Wendy’s 30 day drawing challenge.
We started simply with a More/Less list of what we hope for the new year. I wanted to have less I can’t’s in my life. Including saying I can’t possibly show someone the drawings here!
Then Day 2 we worked on something familiar. Spirals! How many spirals had I drawn in the margins of my notebooks during boring lectures? I knew how to do that!
We played some more with funny pictures before moving into lessons about the elements of drawing such as lines. So far so good. I can draw a line.
But then - oh no - things started to get serious. Lines, shapes, light and shadow. Now draw an animal with the shapes we’d practiced. That’s when I really started to get nervous. I heard all the I can’t’s coming back. Here is my hare made of the shapes I practiced. (I’ll come back to the book later.)
That’s when things started getting really serious - and scary. Composition, drawing, color. Sharing what I’d drawn in the online chat. Yikes! But I swallowed my pride - or was it just fear? - and did what I could.
When my drawing turned out to look like the object I was trying to recreate, I was amazed! I might be able to draw after all - at least a little.
Today and tomorrow are the last days of my drawing challenge. But just like when I started exercising, I’ve surprised myself by actually enjoying this. I’ve always been envious of people who add drawings to their journals. My notebooks are so boring with line after line of unbroken text but of course I can’t draw. There’s that I can’t I’m determined to get rid of. I’ll keep you posted.
BOOK RECOMMENDATION
I joined an online book group hosted by Natalie Serber through her excellent Substack site: eat.read.write. The first book we read and discussed was the memoir Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton. When Dalton hunkered down in her home in the English countryside during the Pandemic, she rescued a baby hare. This book chronicles their journey together. I cannot recommend this book enough. It is beautifully written and is just what I needed during these turbulent times. Buy it HERE.
What is something you want more of in your life? I’d love to hear from you.