PATIENCE

 

All artists need patience, ‘stickability’, focus and application especially when their work is demanding because of its technique, detail or its expected time frame. You certainly need patience when things aren’t going well. The ability to deal with timelines effectively not only requires discipline, but patience as well.

Coloured pencil artists are no exception in fact their work often requires extreme patience. Cps are small in size and cover very little area for a lot of effort. Most coloured pencil works are not as large as most watercolours, oils or acrylics, and they are very labour intensive. But they are a very ‘direct’ medium and are great to use when accuracy and detail are required, but a high degree of patience is essential.

Probably the greatest challenges for cp artists are miniatures (100cm sq) and very large drawings (over 7000cm sq). I have experienced both; the smaller size is akin to microsurgery, while the other could be compared to climbing a mountain.

I struggle to be ‘patient’ with most of my work at some stage of its creation. The answer? By working on more than one drawing I add variety to each week in my studio. In fact I often have three quite different pieces ‘on the go’ at the one time. When I start each morning, my mood determines what I shall do for that day. There are days when all I want to do is work on some photos or draw on my computer. I may decide to write a series of blog posts (as I’m doing now). If I feel relaxed and motivated, I tackle something that requires a lot of concentration and that’s usually a cp drawing.

I’ve been working on a commission over the past few weeks and it’s almost finished. But I haven’t worked on it for more than two days in a row at a time. It’s been a demanding drawing; enjoyable, but demanding, hence the need for breaks now and then, sometimes as much as a week. I hope to have it framed next week.

I don’t always enjoy working with coloured pencils. There were days when I would push myself to finish a drawing regardless of how I felt. This is not the way to work! I now handle my time a lot better in my retirement ….retirement? I haven’t really retired ….. I’m just heading in a new direction!

You should only work on your art when you want to, not when you have to. Patience doesn’t necessarily evolve from experience it comes from discipline.

The art process is in most cases quite therapeutic and encourages patience. Don’t take your work too seriously and you’re bound to find it enjoyable and that in turn will give you plenty of patience!

Today’s image and detail is from Shoreline Lake St. Clair, a very large and detailed drawing that required lots of patience!

Richard

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