Visual art is complex. We make hundreds of tiny decisions to produce a single piece. What should I draw? How should I draw it? What materials do I use? How big should it be? What orientation is best? Do I use line? Form? Colour? What’s the composition? The list goes on. It can often be highly stressful and overwhelming sometimes, so much so that we simply don’t do anything – paralyzed by the fear of making a bad choice within that myriad of options. Of course, the opposite is also true, when I get over those first hurdles and answer a few of those questions, making art is one of the most relaxing and enjoyable ways to spend my time.
I’ve just returned from holidays – a week in the Daintree Rainforest. And, whilst I draw ‘for work’ I also like to ‘draw to relax’. There is, however, a lot to draw in Far North Queensland. Beaches, dense rainforest, waterholes, mammals, insects, food, and people enjoying their own holiday. Deciding which materials to take raise the anxiety levels even before we’ve left. And then there’s the choices we make while we’re there.
But, I discovered something on this most recent trip that I haven’t done out in the field before – constraints. Some of my favourite sketches (and most relaxing moments) were when I was sketching with a single ink brush on cheap paper. It removed the number of decisions I needed to make about materials and colour, and reduced the risk of me ‘making a crap drawing with ‘expensive’ stuff. It was, in a single word – freeing.
And so, I’ve decided to bring this practice home. To keep things simple and not get distracted or overwhelmed by all the ways to create images. Sometimes, all you need is a pencil and some scrap paper. Armed with those, and an imagination, the possibilities are still limitless, we just get to worry less.