Sunday, February 16, 2014

"Most people think of a bee as a bee..."

What was the "last unselfconscious drawing" you did? 
(to use a term I found on Lynda Barry's tumblr)

I don't have many drawings from my childhood, so I'm thrilled this BEES CHART somehow survived. I drew it out of my own head ("a bee dead in his newly dug grave umongst the lilys"!) the spring I turned nine. 

Maybe a year or so after this, I wanted to "draw good,"––especially to draw horses right––and I started copying or sketching from life, not just making stuff up.
 

5 comments:

poodletail said...

I dunno ... your made-up stuff is pretty fabulous.

Fresca said...

POODLE: Don't you mean it's "fabOulous", to employ my madeup spelling? :)
Thanks, I agree, actually, and I want to see if I can find my 9-year-old maker-upper self again! I think she may be "sleeping amongst the grass."

Bookworm said...

Your bee chart is very extra good indeed. The grave picture and phrase are exceptionally good - though I love the bee stinging the quite hairy man too.

Lynda Barry talks about that point where children start judging their artwork and seeing it as good or bad. I see it all the time at school. The 10/11 year olds suddenly become self-conscious about their drawing (especially the girls) and all the imagination drains out of the images.

The advice from lots of artists seems to be - don't judge your drawings. Let them be what they are and keep making art.

There are so many great stories in your bee pictures. Who dug the grave? What did the bee funeral look like? I want to know!

Krista Kennedy said...

Absolutely speechless with delight. On multiple levels.

Zhoen said...

Where's Eric, the Half A Bee?