General

Simple Drawings

During the Black and White Seven Day Challenge I tried something different. I had been creating and posting photographic images and then half way through the challenge I decided to try creating a few ink drawings.

Simple, minimalistic drawings. I wanted to use as few lines or strokes as possible and still have the image recognizable. My subject was trees. I had several varieties in mind and ended up with a Weeping White Spruce, a Weeping Willow, a Coconut Palm and a Southern Live Oak. Because these trees had unique shapes I knew that they would be perfect for this project.

Simple, minimalistic drawings would be easy, right?

Wrong! I cannot tell you how much paper I used and how many times I drew each tree. I drew. And then I redrew. I redrew again. And again.

Remember, I was using ink. There would be no erasing any “mistakes”. I would make six of seven strokes and BAM. The pen would get away from me on the seventh stroke. That last branch would look like a snake dancing on hot pavement. Of course, in my eyes, one wild stroke would ruin the entire drawing.

I realized that I would never get any of the drawings “perfect”. At some point I had to say, “This is the best I can do today.”

Nature is not “perfect” as we define perfection. Branches cross each other. Diseases deform trunks. Storms break and tear off or split open whole trees. And trees live on. They survive and sometimes even thrive after the storm.

I need to remember that. I need to remember that my goal is to do my best while giving up the goal of perfection. The perfection that is defined as no mistakes. Nothing out of place. No wild pen strokes. That perfection is not possible and not even close to a realistic interpretation of real life.

Therefore, today, as I am working on yet another challenge image, I will try hard to remember that my definition of perfection does not exist and simply do the best I can.