A rainy Tuesday morning here, but I’m not complaining as the precipitation is welcome for fields, forests, streams, and reservoirs. . .
I was complaining, only a few weeks ago, about the rain that accompanied us on our daytrip from Bordeaux to St. Emilion. . . where I snapped a photo of this classic Citroën Deux-Chevaux (2hp) parked against a stone wall . . .
Even under my umbrella, I couldn’t help smiling at this car, and I thought I might try to sketch it later–from the photo, rather than soggily sketching en plein air. . . .
But I didn’t get that done while we were away, and I’ve been surprised (maybe a little frustrated, but trying to relax into patience) at how long it’s taking to recreate my sketching habits as I re-establish a balanced schedule back home.
On Saturday, I finally brought the photo up on my computer screen and opened my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook, and picked up my pencil. Drew some lines, some curves, eyeballed proportions and angles, and then picked up my eraser. Pencil again. Eraser again. More eyeballing. More eraser. . . .
I persevered, though, and even got to a point where I went over pencil lines with my Micron pen. . . and then hated what I saw, and tried to go over Micron lines with Micron lines and re-align, and then instead of tearing the page out of the sketchbook, as I was tempted to do, I wrote my frustration there and turned the page. . .
Where I achieved no more satisfaction at all. . . but had wasted another page of watercolour paper. . .
I’m quite proud of my behaviour at this point, because once again I resisted tearing out that poor page, and instead I got out a sketchbook of larger pages suitable for a variety of media, and I decided to practice. I remembered that it’s okay not to be able to draw something at first attempt, and that possibly I would find some enjoyment in the simple process of looking and thinking and making marks. With fewer expectations.
I won’t say I was entirely mollified, but I’m reconciled to filling a few more practice pages. . . and I’m going to go back and add some colour to the Moleskine attempts as well. . . .I might even share the results, eventually.
Meanwhile, a peek at something else I sketched lately, with much more relaxed expectations (on-site sketching, a three-to-five-minute limit, with a ten-year-old companion sketcher, such a good way to loosen up) — preview of a post coming later this week. . .
And you, have you attempted anything recently that defeated you on the 1st — or 2nd or 3rd or 492nd– try, but that you Tried and Tried Again? (or, with great satisfaction, did you scream and crumple that page up or smash that whatever into dust). I’d love to know. . . Comments below, thank you!
Knitting socks…with the double pointed needles was too difficult for me. I think I need to take a course…as I was so exasperated that I ripped them out after I made them…one sock was better than the other but they just didn't feel right when I put them on! I still have the yarn which is lovely and would make a sweet scarf…
Artists often have to rework their paintings and sketches so I would hasten to say that you are in good company. Stay the course mater!
I've been determined to keep a travel journal the last few years and yes there were torn out pages :(. I'm soldiering on and do realize the improvement comes in the doing. Keep at it!
Trying to learn photoshop and Lightroom have not been good for my health.
Did you know that when they designed the 2CV it was supposed to be smooth enough to cross a plowed field with a basket of eggs on the seat and not break any? And 78 mpg? I think the curves of the windows are very Art Nouveau. I definitely see progress in your iterations.
I have to redo a proposal for a client…again. I don't like to redo proposals because I don't get paid for them. And it's frustrating because it's like trying to read their minds. Sometimes I come up with something better than what they had vaguely imagined, but sometimes, like this, I try my best and they just say, nope. And it's back to the drawing board. So to speak.
I love Giacometti’s work. And I admire your perseverance. The Citroen is a complex beast to draw, straight and curved lines and unusual proportions, e.g. the car sits quite high off the ground unlike modern cars. I’m better with words than numbers but I wanted to be competent at Sudoku so earlier this year I practised and practised using a variety of online sites, including some hilarious you tube instructional videos and I did get better. I was pretty pleased and my family relieved when I achieved sufficient mastery that I didn’t constantly have my nose in a Sudoku puzzle.
I am impressed by your efforts to sketch the 2CV. You have undertaken sketching lots of different subjects over the last couple of years. Your sketches have conveyed your impressions of your travels in a way that photographs do not (in my opinion). You have spent time with the subject and looked at it in different ways. Perhaps, the observation is as valuable as the product.
I was a hopeless piano student as a child and Monsieur tells me that I can not sing. I loved playing the piano and I sang for miles during our family car trips. I like to sing (quietly) at church and I would love to sing with other people. Perhaps, I really could join a sing-a-long group at the Centre for Active Living (formerly the Seniors' Centre.
Sweet car,we called it "spacek"….and a lovely colour
It is the road to enjoy,not the finished painting…brava for you to let it stay
Did people think that Van Gogh paintings were beautiful and precise during his life?
Dottoressa
I can never see a Citroen 2CV without thinking of a car ferry crossing from Calais to Dover in the early 1960s. We were in a car behind a very old, rusted 2CV (probably from late 40s)with a corrugated style bonnet(hood for US folk). Departing the ferry, cars were being guided to UK (left) driving lanes by some very tough dock workers and the 2CV driver, having come from right hand drive Europe, mistakenly tried to get in a right lane. The dock worker started screaming at him, telling him to "get that bl**dy garbage can in the proper lane". Always makes me chuckle to remember because that old car really did look a lot like a garbage can. Just be glad your 2CV didn't have that kind of bonnet! A pain to draw.
As for being defeated by a project? Countless times. Especially sewing ones. I recently made a lovely pale aqua linen tunic from a pattern which had some quirky styling. Frustrated the heck out of me, and while I did finally succeed and it looked great–it was simply too large (failed at fittings, eh?). I just didn't feel like unpicking all the seams to reduce the size so I donated it to a charity clothing program. C'est la vie.
I think all your art attempts are really fine, the beginning ones as well as your final ones.
But since you may be frustrated sometimes, have you considered just drawing from your memory and capturing the feeling the scene invoked instead of the technical accuracy? Of course I am no expert so maybe that is not your goal at all. Just for me sometimes mixing up my expectations is very helpful. I am not an artist so please accept this suggestion in the spirit intended as I mean no disrespect.
As for myself, I have done lots of projects that wind up being “good enough” but I am most frustrated about the ones I do not start – I am lazy to be blunt!
And again, love all your art. 🙂
Thank you, Suz from Vancouver.
Hostess: I'm impressed you persevered with the socks, and I suspect you'll find the next pair easier, should you decide to try again — although it may be that there are patterns and approaches that might suit you better. It might be fun to take a course, though — you have such great resources in Victoria.
Sandy: You tear out pages? We need to talk! And I use that expression as well — "soldiering on" — but sometimes I think "mothering on" would have just as much meaning 😉
Taste of France: I didn't know that about the origins of the 2CV, but I love it. I'm beginning to accrue some interesting info and anecdotes.
As for the redoing of proposals — ugh! I hope that at least you've built that possibility into your pricing structure. . . Frustrating!
Maria: I've never even tried Sudoku — good for you. Again, perseverance is key, right?
Mme: Thinking of you this morning as I paged through the summer programming brochure at our Community Centre, I see that there's an active Seniors Singalong Group. . .
Dottoressa: I like that! I'm enjoying the road. . . in my spacek 😉
Mary: What a great anecdote, and of course that imagery sticks!
Suz: Thank you! No disrespect at all, and in fact, this is something of what I tried to do more of in my second attempt, just impose a five-minute deadline and accept what came in that time. I haven't tried drawing from memory yet and I should — I really don't trust that I have any skills for that at all, but I won't develop them if I don't try. . . I'm a bit curious about your label of "lazy." I apply that to myself often, although part of me knows it doesn't make sense. Somehow, we label some activities as worthwhile and others don't count . . .
Life… life lately has been defeating me. Not literally. And not the big things. But just the small stuff. Whoever said don't sweat the small stuff? Argg.
Had lunch with a friend yesterday and we talked about the fact that staying positive, maintaining our Pollyanna personas was difficult these days for some reason. And has lead to both of us veering away from certain people and activities… like reading certain kinds of books, for instance.
Life is a never ending learning experience, as my mum said to me this afternoon when she complained about how difficult small tasks seem, and how much effort everything takes these days. She's learning to dial down her expectations in a big way. And I know how hard that is for her.
Sorry… I think I'm digressing from your topic somewhat. Digressing being something I do REALLY well. At least according to my students. Ha.
I still adore a 2CV, it is filled with memories of childhood, of Spain and Texas, of family trips and snapping the seats out for picnics. I also loved driving it ..
I think your drawings have charm and continue to be thrilled that you share your progress and process with us. It seems to me that the most rewarding things in life are the things that are difficult, that need to be worked and reworked and drive us to tears, not just because they are difficult but also because we want them so much. I tend to think this is the source of joy, and accomplishment in life, not in comparison to others per se, but in getting better than one was before, in finding something one wants to do and feels compelled to tackle again and again to get it right.
Your final 'practice' version with the much freer pencil strokes has much more life and character to it, and for me captures more of the quirky élan of the 2CV than the earlier drawings which are trying to be 'correct'.
Perhaps you have an artistic 'voice' that is not strictly representational?
My most recent 'trying again' – and succeeding – has been driving an automatic car after a lifetime of only ever driving manuals. It took quite an effort! My crumpling up and smashing phase was anything relating to knitting or sewing, so that for the sake of my sanity I have happily avoided both for the past 46 years.
I think of how valuable it can feel to have a record of how hard one has tried, even if the results are never quite what you want.
I mean, this book, even if I am totally sick of it and not sure it's worth a damn, at least I have a long line of backed up files showing me I tried.
And I too like your last sketch, perhaps practice gave you the confidence to draw instinctively to see what appealed to you about the car in the first place. Capturing motion.
Oh yes, the "Ente" (duck) or "Döschewo" (German spelling of French pronounciation). When my parents considered buying their first car, sometime back around 1960, a friend offered my family a test ride in his 2CV to find out if it might be the right car for us. it was not. I got sick after the second bend, because I could not stand that gentle rocking motion of the very soft suspension the car was famous for. But I always liked the look of this car – and what it stood for in terms of life style. So with some regrets, for my own cars I opted for the more "sober" alternative: a series of run-down second-hand Renault4.
As opposed to some other commenters here I like your second try best.
Sue B: I can really relate to this! And I can find it tough to steer a path somewhere between just giving into the frustration or denying it to push through. 'cause that will almost always catch up. Obviously, I'm not where your mom is (yet!), but something is undeniably changing when it comes to how many things I can fit into a day and still get up and do that again the next. . . .
Mardel: I think you're very lucky to have "Up close and personal" experience with one, both as driver and passenger! And yes, it's so interesting to me that I will now work to try to get something like this car closer to what I think represents it — when for five decades I simply said, "Oh, no, I can't draw. I'm not artistic."
Linda B: You're right that my style (dare I speak of an "artistic voice" yet?) will probably always lean toward whimsical, but I'd like to be able to control some of the underlying technical stuff. . .
And funny to think of finding it difficult to drive an automatic. . . of course, that transmission is pretty much the default here. I learned on one — a huge boat of a station wagon — but my first car was a standard, and I've driven standard all my life. I find an automatic frustrating, especially in the size of car we drive, because there's just not much oomph when you need it, right? Curious to know why you're going that route now. . .
Lisa: Yes to this, the marks we live behind in the trying. . . although I assure you your book is worth a good publisher and a wealth of readers and I hope it finds all that soon. . .
Eleonore: More names for this sardine can with the sewing machine engine ;-). . . .And how clever of your family to arrange the test ride and saving many, many unhappy outings (one of our granddaughters gets carsick regularly, and that isn't fun!