Aagh, I think this drawing is horrible but I didn't have time for a redo so I have to post it. It's a detail from Edgar Degas' painting titled Absinthe. After finishing this drawing I took a walk that started out in storminess and despair. After awhile I realized how this drawing allowed me to practice the "Objective Witness" stance that comes from the practice of meditation. As an objective witness you can observe your reactions rather than becoming them.
A good piece of art work has me thinking "I'm great! I'm going to show the world!" A bad piece and I hear "I suck, I am a fool for even trying." Each thought, if allowed to run unchecked, attaches to thoughts that are similar, snowballing into a larger belief about one's ability to survive in the world. The objective witness stance can help you hold steady despite the positive/negative bipolar swing.
When I returned from my walk I noticed how in my efforts to gain control of the drawing I kept swinging back and forth between too dark and too light. A sign of attaining the objective witness stance is when you start to see things symbolically, and not simply in black and white.
1 comment:
You make the drawing. You do the thinking. You write the thoughts. The thoughts you write affect me and my relationship with making art.
I try to remember that one can never be sure how their art can affect another person. This art and the thoughts that came with it, helped me.
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