Two years ago for my birthday a friend gave me an amazing colored pen set. Not like a cheap colored pen set you'd give a kid or one of those pens with the selectors on the side to choose different colors that you absolutely had to have as a kid. These were real colored pens. They were made in Germany.
But what to do with them? I write. I don't draw.
Well, I can sketch some things very well. I used to sketch profiles of cars, buildings, shoes, clothing --- I was design oriented and dreamed of being an architect. The problem was if I took any of the things I drew and tried to make them three dimensional the sketch would be obliterated. The horizons wouldn't match, the point of view was all off. I was a mess. I really couldn't draw.
In my exasperation I got a book on learning how to draw animals step by step. Deer, lions, coyotes --- that sort of thing. But even when I followed the steps, one after the other, it still came out a mess. I couldn't even trace in 3D!
Dismayed I did what any normal middle schooler would do. I promptly gave up.
Now back to my birthday present. I still can't draw, but I had these colored pens. I figured I needed to push myself artistically and just go with it. So I began to illustrate next to some poems, or to draw an image I had in my mind and use it as a springboard for a poem or prayer. Sometimes it still looks pretty awful, but there are others that are actually not half bad, and complement the writing well.
It's been a struggle, yet I am starting to come around to drawing as a tool to aid my primary artistic focus. What are some arts or crafts you pursue that you aren't very good at but help you with your art and creativity?
Thomas Turner is the Senior Editor & Publisher of GENERATE Magazine and an adjunct lecturer at Nyack College.
Actually, I use those fancy colored pens for writing--jotting out notes for a poem, drafting an essay, or making my grocery and to-do lists. Just about any kind of writing. :)
Posted by: Elizabeth | August 26, 2011 at 01:38 PM
Well, I am of the artistically challenged persuasion, but what I like to do is look at what artists do. (My definition of art: If I can do it, it's not art.)
Posted by: Glynn | August 26, 2011 at 08:24 PM
Are these the pens??? http://bit.ly/nVrdHz These pens were the first set I bought for myself when I started Visual Prayer. I've moved to using so many other things now, but I still carry a small set in my purse with a little prayer journal!
http://michellependergrass.com/2008/06/confirmed-i-think/
http://visualprayer.com
Posted by: Michelle Pendergrass | September 06, 2011 at 05:07 PM
@Michelle Yes!!! Those are the pens. I didn't think my description was that great...
I love the pens so much I've been kind of scared to use them much more, lest the ink is spent in them and I can't find a new set.
That's so cool how we use them for the same purpose.
Posted by: Thomas Turner | September 07, 2011 at 05:35 AM
You can leave those pens uncapped for days on end and they won't dry up, it's part of the selling point!!
http://www.staedtler.ca/triplus_fineliner_ca.Staedtler#ctl07_Tab-product-tab-4
So use them!! And when you need more, I know where to get them!!!
Posted by: Michelle Pendergrass | September 11, 2011 at 05:00 PM