Drawing and exercise are a lot alike for me: I know that the activities are important to my well being, and the daily discipline, or the resolve to stay in these routines, is not a constant. With drawing, I'm hampered by the persistent fixation on creating the ultimate object, as a metalworking professor observed years ago, and the harsh voice of judgment and self ridicule inside my head that so often keeps me from even picking up a pencil and sketchbook, much less embarking on projects requiring more sustained attention. I'm sure that most artistic types are beset with similar struggles. But these small moments, besides their indispensable role in the journey to mastery or even fitness, are the fabric of our lives. So this morning's break from checking shop specifications for a highly detailed set of cabinetry was to force myself to draw the Rad Davis pipe smoldering in a pewter stand on my worktable in front of a pair of ceramic mugs that hold some of my most used pencils and pens. If I can keep it up, a little every day, experience tells me that the nasty little critical whispering in my head will fade as the pleasure of drawing drowns it out.
5" x 8", Prismacolor and 2B graphite pencils