Patience; a virtue which is lost in a world of instant gratification.
I was not a naturally patient person, however I am a perfectionist. Unfortunately one cannot live without the other, so my drawing presented itself as a unique kind of personal challenge for me, as each piece takes numerous hours over several weeks or months I had to go against my desire for immediate results and learn to be patient; with myself and my drawing.
Patience guides me to make each mark, tiny and precise. Patience compels me to fill in each detail as if it were to be seen, but goes unnoticed often overlooked by the bigger picture. Patience is my counsel reminding me that all practice is progress. And yes, I have progressed, in the last two and a half years from the first time I picked up a box of soft pastels and returned to a realist style. I have developed my eye for detail, fine-tuned my technique, and evolved in persistence.
The paradox of this new found patience is that I have overcome my need for perfection and have simply fallen in love with the process, not as a means to an end but as a means to creation. A means to creating a world captured in the eyes of a child, an underwater wonderland dancing in bubbles or the beauty of light reflecting on water.
As my proficiency grows I continue to pursue work that challenges my nature, while portraying my unique perspective of reality.
With patience, one can achieve great things.
2018
Process drawings of
you may have fish every year
