Thursday 10 November 2011

Looking like a real artist...

So in the van today, as we turned a sharp corner, my tea mug (with about 2 inches of cold milky herbal tea with honey in it) tipped right over onto the unbound open edge of my sketchbook/journal, drenching the pages and everything within...

My dear sweet soulmate (the driver of said van) patted me on the (also wet) knee and says: "Now it looks like a real artist's."


Rude words abounded ~ I was devastated. It wasn't his fault at all but you see, I have this thing... I love prisine notebooks. I like them neat. And tidy. And, above all, clean. Not for me the mucky, dog-eared look. Ruffled pages seriously disturb me. Uneven paper edges actually keep me awake at night. I can handles water wrinkes, just. Only as a result of a watercolour sketch. Smudges bother me though. It took me, literally, years before I stopped carrying whiteout in my purse along with my journal to correct my spelling mistakes. Come to think of it, now that they have those whiteout pens I could... But I digress...


Words smeared... Paint ran... Ink spread... Pages stained. There is an unsightly tea stained mark along the bottom edge. My poor sketchbook/journal, proud in its crisp, clean state now lies battered and mottled. Bruised and worn. Like a warrior home from a war that was lost. Dejected.


Which makes me feel sorry for it. Because on some level I know it senses that I may just pick it up later tonight when I go to journal and reject it. Needing, no craving, the safety of a new, clean, and might I add, DRY, place to write and sketch.

Waiting for the ferry on the way home I did do a quick watercolour sketch. I had to. The first rule of thumb when you fall off, is to get right back on. Works for bicycles, horses, and skates too I understand. So hopefully it worked for sketchbooks. I did a quick sketch of the scene, did a watercolour wash, and then began filling in the details with Pitt pens. Absorbed in what I was doing until it felt good to be working in there again.


Am I going to abandon it? As someone who has had abandonment issues with toasters in the past (that's for another post) I don't honestly think it's within me. After all, this journal sketchbook has seen me through an awful lot these last couple of months. I'd have to be a pretty lousy person to discard it just because I forgot to put my very tall and unstable mug of tea somewhere safe in a van that delights in throwing things all over the place just because it can turn on a dime. I did mention the driver who loves same, didn't I?

It's really been there for me. Accepting without crisitism all that I had to say or draw. So I'll see this somewhat unsightly sketchbook journal through to the last page.


Besides... apparently, now, it looks like it belongs to a real artist...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE THIS... The whole post and your pages now looking like a real artist. What a huge lesson for you and how wonderful it was that you listened and heard.
I think you are blessed to have that soul mate and his positiveness, it balances you.

You sure had me smiling through reading this.

Shena Meadowcroft said...

Tina, you are so right - I am so blessed with this man in so, so many ways. His constant and unwavering support is truly amazing to me. Loved that this made you smile!

Krista/Ruca said...

Aw, I would say I'm sorry, but I think you've already turned it into a positive. And I have to speak up for the "dog-eared" variety of journals, but I must confess I have an inbred bias;-). Thanks for a really great post.

Shena Meadowcroft said...

Oh dear Ruca, I am the one to say sorry. I am usually WAY more sensitive to inter-species remarks... will try harder next time! Thanks for your comments, they made me smile!

Tee McNeil Art said...

I'm not sorry... it's an opportunity and you made the most of it. I love the way it looks.. in fact I might spill tea on some of my stuff on purpose! LOL Hugs to you darlin.

Shena Meadowcroft said...

Thanks Tee - Hugs back at you! Funnily enough I have used tea bags littering my sketchbook and pieces of watercolour paper all over the place as we speak....