I don’t like bowling. I hate roller coasters, and if you want to know my secrets you could torture me with any number of sunny beach activities. There are maybe two things in this whole world that I find really fun. Breathtaking, glee filled, don’t want to stop fun. Life drawing (drawing from life) and this.
As for Life drawing. I like it nude. I mean, You are nude. I am as dressed as they come.
Over the years I have let this activity fall to the wayside. It falls under the category of frivolous. Just for fun. When I have so much “real” work to do. Every single mom knows that fight. There’s laundry and dishes and parenting to be done, money to make and community to involve yourself in. Who has time for finding naked people on the street.
Occasionally on my birthday I would hire a couple strippers to sit and pose. But I got mouths to feed and it just seems harder to justify this fun thing I like to do.
That is why when Boykin Art Studio decided to host a mermaid themed “Drink and Draw” event at my local fantastically logo’d joint Tipsy McSway’s….
I was beyond excited!
There is only one thing better than nude, and that thing is mermaid!
If you have seen me in recent months sporting a stipey sock on my wrist, you may have guessed it was covering a wrist brace. The hand pain and neuropathy struggle is real. And I haven’t been able to draw for several days. I knew I would not be able to grip my pencil on this magical night, and I was beyond devastated.
Now, I have read enough self help books to know that every obstacle carries a gift.
And while I joked about drawing with my feet or holding a pen betwixed myteeth…it was really only a half joke. I mean, a girl has got to make stuff right.
So I decided to draw with my left hand. My non-dominant hand that is still functioning.
And something happened to me.
I think I was filled with hope. And the sense that I can handle whatever comes my way.
The beautiful model/musician/derby girl/owner of a hairless dog/ friend was delivered to the drawing stage as a angst ridden Arctic mermaid. Masterfully styled by the great Christina Boykin.
I worried that there was no way I could capture her gorgeousness.
But drawing with my left hand, I stopped trying to capture her gorgeousness and concentrated on staying on the paper. Finding what I could do, and letting go of what I couldn’t.
Experience is after all, only what you choose to concentrate on.
Eating meals the past few weeks with the left hand has resulted in a smorgasbord of stains. A dog that has grown fat off of my flailing fork, and the sense that I have very little control over the unused side of my body.
I can point in a general direction, but the sensitivity of line is gone.
I had to let go.
Let go of self judgement “does this look good?” “does this look close?” “Is this art”
“What will people think?”
These are the voices that plague us.
But when you force yourself to draw with your non-dominant hand, the voices are quieted. I didn’t even hear a voice. Also theres people and dining and talking, there isn’t even a need for a head voice.
I probably had the most fun I have ever had in a Life Drawing session. Challenging myself and stretching my boundaries.
Uninjured, could I just be free like that?
In the end it really felt like growth to me.
I also kinda pulled a rope-a-dope.
The last drawing I used my injured right hand.
I didn’t get a picture of it because I sold it to a drunk guy in the bar.
I have drawn the conclusion: That fun things help you grow and there is nothing frivolous about that. And trust me a “Drink and Draw” event is even more fun than traditional life drawing. People are relaxed, everything is funny and at the end of the night, drunk people will buy anything!
Consider marking your calendar for the next “Drink and Draw” event at Tipsy Mcsway’s or look for them around Jacksonville. Or just come over to my house wearing something weird and stand very very still.
