LWR's Top Five Humiliating Drawings

WHAT BETTER WAY TO END THE YEAR THEN TO HUMILIATE YOURSELF IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE WORLD? OUT WITH THE OLD AND IN WITH THE NEW!


As the clock ticks towards midnight, I'm cleaning house. I'm getting rid of all the junk I passed off as drawings. I'm not ashamed that I tried to pull the wool over your eyes; a drawing a day,of any caliber, is a tall order. When I started the blog last January, Honey said, "you'll never be able to do it. It's too much." He was right. There were days when life got in the way or I just didn't feel like it. I scribbled some excuse for a drawing just to keep my promise. That was stupid--or was it?


When trying to make making art a part of everyday life, there are going to be days where no subject appeals to you. You want to do something, but there's nothing around that moves you to pick up a pencil or a brush. You feel blank. That's the time to go into a trance and doodle free associations, mix colors in bulk, make color charts of glazes, fuss around with special effects, try out some new materials you picked up-- Or forget all that and clean the studio. There's nothing like cleaning palettes, brushes,counter tops,sweeping and emptying the trash that make you want to do something else--anything else. The materials are right there; so you might as well pick something up and ease in till you feel the connection.

It took me some time to learn cleaning was the best incentive to get back to work. And even if the work I did that day wasn't my best, it was the trashy stuff that got me back on track the day after.

CLOWN. Nothing funny about this guy. He's Chucky in a clown suit.

PICKET FENCES.Don't ask me what the title means. I have no idea. It's a fool around collage painting I did one afternoon when I could think of nothing better to do and had had enough of cleaning. It's rough. It's messy. It is well made though--and a lot like graffiti; I was just making my mark. I'll probably add some more marks to it too some other day when I'm drawing blanks.

MONSTER IN THE BASEMENT. My elliptical trainer--a drawing done in less than twenty while I was putting off getting on the damn thing. I think the drawing definitely shows my true hatred of the ugly machine. So maybe it's not all that bad? Art is expressive.

UNTITLED. Feel free to suggest something for this free association painting. I can't stand to throw any appreciable quantities of color down the drain when I'm cleaning my palette; so I use it up. Like Picket Fences, I just made marks. This was the result. I'm going to keep it. There's something curious about the process that I might want to recall later--although it really is getting later than I think.

FERRET WITH ANTS.What else would you call this nightmare? If my kid brought this drawing home, I'd be on the phone telling Dr. Bombay to come right away. This is absolutely the worst of 2010. But it does make me laugh. And it does keep me humble.

So you think you can draw? Well not all the time. Some days you just don't have it--the zeal, the energy. These examples of days I wasn't up to snuff are just a few--there were more--quite a few more (the two inserted into the text to break up the monotony). I thought I would trash them as I scrolled through the files, but I didn't. Mistakes should be remembered forsuccess is achieved through mistakes. I can hardly wait to see what they're going to be in 2011.