30 Days of Weeds – Day 2

For the longest time, I believed I couldn’t draw.

I’ve always loved making things – cutting, pasting, coloring, TRACING, bending, folding, tearing, tying knots, poking holes – there’s my 10,000 hours of mastery, right there. Doing all that crafty shit. Seriously, go look at my work. It’s what my career is based on. Crafty shit.

But drawing? It scared me to death.

I remember the first year at art university. There was an art library at the college, filled with books just about art. I know, heaven. One day I took out some books like: ‘How To Draw’, ‘Basic Drawing’, ‘Teach Yourself Drawing’. Someone saw them in my little cubicle and said: ‘You don’t know how to draw? What are you doing in art school?’

I promised myself that one day, I would finally learn how to draw properly. Then I would be a REAL artist.

And you know what? I’ve never done it.

When I started these weed drawings, I hadn’t picked up a pencil to draw in years. For once, I decided that I was just going to go for it. Most importantly, I didn’t know what I was doing it for. No instructional books, and no deadline or big concept.

These drawings are not ‘great’. I think you could call them ‘nice’. They’re not going to win any awards. I’m not going to be called the next Goya or Degas or anything. If I practiced 10,000 hours I think I would be pretty good at drawing, but that’s not the kind of artist I want to be.

I think the kind of artist I’ve always wanted to be… is the kind that when you look at what I’ve done, it makes you say:

‘I could do that.’

‘I want to do that.’

‘Hmm, you know, I think I’m going to try that.’

Sometimes pretending is the only way to allow yourself to be able to do something you’re scared of.