Why do you want to draw?
There have been times in my life that I felt so much emotions. Emotions that words just do not capture. There have been times that I felt no one understood me. Times that I just don’t feel like talking. There are pieces of art that are stuck in my head that did not get out in time, until my life changed and that moment is gone.
How many times have you felt something that you cannot explain? The picture is there in your head, you want it to come out. How many times has it stayed there unable to share it?
Sometimes the reason you cannot put the paint on the canvas is the technical and other times fear.
When I was a teenager, I was going through a lot of emotions as most people do at that stage of life. Also, as many do, I had a fear of what others thought of me. One drawing in particular I never let anyone see as I could not let anyone know I was sad and suffering. I hid partially under my blanket incase my parents made sure I was “asleep”. The bedroom light was off and I had only the light of the moon. With so much emotion, I scribbled on the page a figure. The figure was hunched over and crying. The sides of the were scribbled on to show the ciaos going through my life. Structurally, it was not a good drawing, there were no details and the proportions were off. But it was expressing exactly how I felt. I drew it, went to sleep and kept the drawing hidden for years.
A few year later I was coming home from college. Being less than rich, the bus seemed like the best option. The drive was about 24 hours long. There is not much to do when sitting for 24 hours on the bus, so I started to draw. The people around wanted to see my art.
I let them look at my drawings, one by one in my sketch pad. Some funny pictures, some detailed. But with each page they turned, they got closer and closer to my hidden art. My mind raced. Is it more embarrassing for them to see the raw emotions? Or is it more embarrassing to admit that I made art I do not want people to see? Sometimes it is easier to let total strangers into your most personal secrets. So, I held my breath and let them turn the page.
They loved it! It was the one that connect with them the most. Some of them felt the same way.
Here is the truth about art, it connects people. We are supposed to behave a certain way, and feel a certain way. There are social cues we get from other people, and when the other people put up a wall, we feel the need to do so too. Then others see us with our walls up and they get the social cues that they should do the same, until all of society gets the social cues that everything is just plane and “normal”. Art allows us to break the walls and express ourselves, connect on ways that can be difficult for many people to do.
If you have an emotional picture you have been too afraid to share because you think people will think you are crazy, I invite you to share it with someone. Sometimes you will be surprised that they needed to see that art. Maybe once they see your art, they found at last, a piece that could express how they feel too.
So, why do you want to draw?