When looking for career advice, I have read that one should look to their childhood passions to rediscover what they should be doing. One of the things I used to enjoy doing was drawing. I was happiest when I had a new pack of felt tip pens and a pad of cartridge paper. There was no pre-drawing with a pencil and then going over the lines - I used to go for it and just put pen to paper. If I ruined the picture (which I frequently did) I would screw the page up into a tight ball and start again.
I recently found this card which I drew for my Nan when I was a child. I think it was a self portrait, or rather how I would have liked to see myself with the jet black hair of Disney's Snow White and the obligatory long eyelashes. I like the open and outstretched arms and the way the head is tilted to one side. I did seem to view the World in a rosy haze of blissful ignorance and sometimes wish that I never had to grow up and be exposed to the harsh reality of a wicked World.
So forward 40 plus years and here I am today. That optimistic child still lays within me. I want to welcome you all with outstretched arms, walk through fields of flowers and live out a story tale future where I can say
....................and they all lived happily ever after. x
I'm with you Simone
ReplyDeleteJulie xxxxxxx
I too was always drawing figures and sewing from age 6 - that is probably how I ended up in fashion and textiles as a career! It would be so nice if we could always keep our child like qualities wouldn't it - sadly as that blissful ignorance state is taken over by our awareness our lives and view of the world change but not always for the better.
ReplyDeleteHope you are feeling better from your recent break - good to see you back Simone. x
I was always drawing houses - maybe because we didn't have one of our own and my childhood was spent living in other people's houses. I also used to write a lot of stories. Does that mean I should have been an architect or a builder or maybe an author? Too late now! As one gets older it is inevitable that one loses innocence but I refuse to believe that the world is not still a wonderful place and that it can and should be filled with open arms and flowers and maybe maturity is not so much not growing up but in hanging on firmly to one's dreams and seeing the best in everything even though all the while knowing about the evil and wickedness that also abounds. Nobody lives happily ever after - life is not a fairy story and it is the unhappiness that happens that makes the flower strewn meadows and open aarms all the more appreciated when they in turn are what we see.
ReplyDeleteI love that you posted this drawing, Simone. And your reflections about what you were thinking when you drew it are so interesting!! Yes, life does shade our early rosy view of the world, but I think it's important to continuously seek out that rosiness - in nature, in people and in our artwork! I would love to see more of your drawings!! x
ReplyDeleteOh yes that sounds lovely Simone!!
ReplyDeleteI love your little drawing, I too used to draw all the time, I loved my felt tip pens.
V x
My childhood passions were dressing up and acting out scenes from books and things I had seen on television. I couldn't draw very well and was never good ar sewing or knitting but I did read a lot and played at libraries and also museums and was fascinated with history. Later as a young adult I did amateur dramatics and took some LAMDA exams but I ended up working in the offices of a book shop and then for over twenty years in Museums. So I think my childhood passions did dictate what I eventually did. Lovely post, Simone:)
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you've changed at all?
ReplyDeleteI don't suppose you are so small.
xx
So sweet, Simone.
ReplyDeleteLife is neither all dark or all light, but a combination of the two. It's up to us to decide which we choose to focus on.
And I'm with Judy, I'd love to see more of your drawings.
There is something so exciting about a new pack of felt tip pens all lined up in their rainbow of colours.
ReplyDeleteI still get excited now abut stationery items!
Love the little yellow dress.
Lisa x