My day at the Seattle Art Museum
Today I visited the Seattle Art Museum on a whim.
I have been taking figure drawing classes online and felt it was important to practice drawing subjects from life.
Since I don't have access to live models, I decided to search out some ancient Greek or Roman sculptures at the museum. I found a statue of Aphrodite on the 4th floor in a corner dedicated to ancient statuary, and luckily there was a bench in the are I could sit on to work.
There is a state of being when we are fully engaged in something creative that cannot be duplicated doing anything else. Time stops, the world goes away and we are completely immersed in a task that both meditative and highly active.
The sketch only took me about 40 minutes, but analyzing the sculpture and trying to find a way to realize it on the page required some serious concentration.
The sketch turned out okay, but that isn't the point. As with all creative endeavors, the process was the reward. Sure, I am getting incrementally better at drawing, but since I know and accept that there is no end goal or final state I want or need to be at as a fine artist, I am free to dive in and explore the process of creation without distraction.
I believe every aspiring artist should strive to get to that place of immersion and focus, for it is there that true creativity happens.