Flicking through the art folders

The great thing about drawings is like photographs they encapsulate many memories, thoughts and feelings. 2010 wasn't the best of years for me but being able to look through my art folders reminds me what is good and important in life. I always end up in a much better frame of mind when I have finished looking through. My work may not be gallery worthy but each piece has it's own story to tell.



Some pieces I took on holidays others I done while in secondary school and sixth form which will always remind me of my classmates and teachers. Many of the drawings that I have done outside of the classroom I am more pleased with than a lot of what I done during the school day. There are certain pieces in there which I didn't realise at the time how relevant they were to what I was feeling at the time.

Another humbling thing is how much my drawings have changed in the last few years. I redrew a picture that I did when I was about 14, I can't remember how hard I was trying the first time but it is a completly different picture on the second attempt. As with most things in life, tastes change. I never used to really like drawing portraits but as I have got older that has become my favorite genre. Maybe because it was too difficult or I was just unaware of the satifaction that comes when you capture even some of the expression and mood of the subject.

When I was in school I did a project on letterform which really caught my imagination, it was one of those topics that I didn't think much of to start with, but ended up creating a really fun series of mixed media pieces. In sixth form art had nothing to do with any of the other subjects that I was studying but I'm so glad I kept it up. I learn't a lot there, both in academic terms and about life in general. Studying art added more pressure alongside 3 other A levels yet what I gained made up for the time, not lost, but which I could have spent studying for my other subjects.

I chose not to continue studying art after that art is a very difficult area to have a career in and I don't think my ability stands out from the crowd enough to make anything from it. Anyhow I gained a hobby for life which I believe will contribute more to my future happiness than if I had taken another more academic subject. The ability to think for yourself is one of the main lessons which a creative subject such as art can teach and it is a skill that applies across the board. A couple of years back I was in a group working on a small assignment, it struck me that on one question that allowed you to think outside the box a little the first response was to look online for what someone else had said on the topic. No progress would ever be made in this world if no one ever thought for themselves.