I caught myself thinking “I used to be an artist” today. I really did think I was past that stage—I even used it as the main theme of the “about me” section of this blog just 2 days ago. We can’t really control what we think— the thoughts come so rapidly. We can immediately retract them though and since they are in our own head no one else is the wiser. (Unless we admit to it later in a blog.) I was driving at dusk today with the sun having already dropped under the horizon and the soft colors in the sky were reflecting in the ice-crusted snow like a placid ocean. The trees in the distance appeared black in contrast; each limb defined clearly. A long row of tall white pines, a few well-shaped oak trees, gangly bare birches. The individuality of each tree was made all the more apparent by the negative spaces between the branches. If I was still an artist it would be a scene I would love to paint. I pulled over in front of the same farm where these moments always seem to happen, and took a few photographs for reference. Just in case.
Many years ago, I took an adult continuing education class with an amazing teacher named Helen Siegel, and we did learn to draw. But more importantly she taught us how to see. One of the assignments was to draw objects, not by looking at them directly but by drawing the negative space around them. The main way to get to know something is to look directly at it and study the details, but it is not the only way. Stepping back and seeing the object in relation to others. Seeing how it interacts with its environment. Seeing what is missing around it. The negative space.
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