This probably doesn’t illustrate the point I’m making here but nothing ever turns out exactly how it looked in your mind, does it? Ideas are so different when they’re put into production and change a million times in the process (well, they do for me.) So really, it’s more of a Statement of Intent: “I had something to say, but halfway through the sentence I started talking about something else…” There’s a thread snipped somewhere between thought and action.
I used to get very hung up on trying to make things accurate and perfect. That type of drawing really impresses certain people, they gasp when they see it and move in closer to try and see how it’s done, like the magic circle is going to give up it’s secrets. I used to admire that kind of work; not so much now. I love to go in galleries and see something that’s completely far out…but that’s how it is for them. You can appreciate all types of art much more if you open your mind up to more than the skills involved and what the critics think. Do you like looking at it? Does it make you laugh? Cry? Want to know more? Does it send a shiver down your spine? Or root you to the spot? There’s a big distinction between how something looks and how a person sees it, or remembers it, or feels it. So it’s better to just go along with what your brain wants to do. I draw a lot of things from imagination and I draw a lot of things from memory. And it makes me feel better. Because that’s how it is for me. A unique vision is definitely a gift; nobody experiences the world like I do, like you do, like anyone does. And if it all turns out differently than expected that’s just extra thrown in for free.
Skull (drawn from memory), chalk and ballpoint, 2018
Holly Holt 