Hooray!

i have finally escaped The Funk!!

a combination of letting the funk ride, owning its
existence by writing about it, and starting to read Marion Milner's On Not Being Able to Paint, this afternoon, the elements aligned enough for me to just do something!

Milner's book was originally published in 1950 - she was a psychoanalyst focusing on education and how children learn. (she was a colleague of D.W. Winnicott whose works formed the basis of my PGCE reading list back in the 80s.)

milner was a 'sunday painter' and was interested in her own creative process, in the 'outer expression of her internal desire/ mood/image'. she 'played' with 'free drawing'/ doodling and made notes on whatever she created.

she worked mainly in charcoal, a medium she found freeing. and just let her hand roam freely across the page, without any preconceived idea of what she wanted to draw...

reading her book, i instantly recognized a kindred spirit, and since the next exercise on the course is making lines in charcoal, i grabbed a new moleskine 5x7in. notebook, and let my hand draw freely. i knew i wanted to colour my free drawing, so i chose conte crayons and used any colour that took my fancy (the colours are much brighter than the photo shows).

i then wrote:

Escaping the Funk

phew! i've done it! after being lost for weeks.

drawn in charcoal, coloured by conte crayons, inspired by marion milner's 'on not being able to paint'. it's free-drawn and the message seems evident - the big red arrow snaking across the page, the arrow feathers [top left], the half-hidden target, everything framed as a picture. the outer expression of internal desires - i want to draw, to colour, to make mess:)

i've sprayed it with fixative for i know this is an important part of my drawing 'journey'.