Sketching and the Creative Urge

I love to sketch, although I don't think I'm anything fantastic with it. Sketchpads and pencils are among my favorite gifts to receive and to give, and I always have at least one sketchpad and a pencil and/or pen with me at all times. (OK, maybe not when swimming, but I don't really allow myself to get acquainted with bathing suits anymore, so I'm safe with the previous "blanket" statement.) I have found that having the courage to simply sit and sketch and not really care about what anyone around me might think about the quality (or lack of quality) of my efforts is freeing. And I have found that the more sketching I do, the better I am getting at expressing what I really want to through this basic artform. One thing that intrigues me is Sketchcrawl. Sketchcrawl started in San Francisco several years ago and takes place every three months. The idea is to spend a day going around your city/town/area and sketch everything you see. Even better is when you can do this with friends. The next sketchcrawl is coming up in April. I think I might try to participate in it. It sounds like fun.

Do your fingers itch? I don't mean externally, although that can also happen. I mean internally. When your fingers itch to do something creative instead of your boring, day-to-day routine. The day-to-day might bring in the money and support your family, but if it crushes your creativity, then you have made a Faustian deal with the devil. In other words, you just sold your soul to the devil, took a ring from Sauron, chose to leave heaven with Lucifer, etc., etc. All bad, no good. I dream of making art. I don't necessarily dream of specific projects, or even specific media. Just the act of creation. That creation stops the itch in my fingers and makes me happy. I can be coloring in a coloring book, sketching with pencils, using water color paints, sculpting or throwing a pot with clay, making a metal sculpture with metals and fire, making a finely detailed piece of enamel. All are things I would love to spend time with, all are things I have dreamed of participating in within the past two weeks, and all of these things help to keep my finger itching under control. I suppose, if I didn't have the outlet of dreams, I might have every surface in my physical world covered with personal graffiti and pictures. It might not be a bad thing, but it would certainly be a downer to the potential resale value of my home and the cleanup would be horrendous. Dreams can be wonderful.....

Today, remember Buddy Holly and "The Day the Music Died". His muse was music, and his short but bright light is still felt today - 50 years later.