The first drawing is a sketch Cezanne made of his friend Pissarro, the second is one Pissaro made of his friend Cezanne. I was thinking about the objective witness concept I mentioned the other day, and wondered if I could explain it a little better.
It's as if the drawing itself represents the objective witness. It is simply a drawing, that is all. The viewer's perception makes it "good" or "bad" or anywhere in between. That perception can change depending on mood or the passing of time. But the drawing hasn't changed, it is simply a drawing, that is all. A Van Gogh painting, at the time it was painted, was considered worthless. Now, that same painting is worth millions. The painting didn't change, the cultural perception did.
When you are the objective witness you can see that your reactions to things are perceptions and not "you". It's hard to see that when you're in the midst of it, that's why I was glad when I caught myself the other day in the swing of despair due to my perception of a "bad" drawing. A bad drawing itself is not the problem, it's when it attaches to other fears and you find yourself caught in an avalanche of negativity, forgetting that what you're experiencing is a perception and not necessarily "true".
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