TheBanyanTree: seeing

[auntiesash]

Straight lines are overrated.

I have about 10 notebooks floating around.  By the bed, by the TV, in
my car.... If I'm waiting in line or stuck on the phone, I doodle or
write down a word or two.  Do you know those "eyeball bender" puzzles,
where you are looking at a common object but super close up or at an
odd angle?  I try to find something near me and draw with that kind of
focus.  And it doesn't matter if it's a stick-figure like drawing,
just drawing the line of buttons on the bottom edge of my monitor, or
noticing that the bottom edge of the planter on my desk looks just
like Pont du Gar aquaducts in France.  And I try to remember to throw
a date on the page here or there.  I go back later and leaf through
and find things that I don't remember or want to do again.

Everyone can draw.  You might not draw representationally, but you can
probably scribble out something interesting or funny or thought
provoking or just scribbly.  It's all good.

- sash

On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 9:30 AM, Indiglow <indiglow at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> The exercise sounds fascinating - and very appealing to a tactile sort of person.   I'm curious about the drawing diary though, Theta.  Can you share more with us about that?  B eing one of those who can't draw a straight line with a ruler, it sounds fascinating... although I do often try to spend time "seeing" rather than looking, this is foreign to me.
> Jana
>
> --- On Thu, 11/4/10, Theta Brentnall <tybrent at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> From: Theta Brentnall <tybrent at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: TheBanyanTree: seeing
> To: "A comfortable place to meet other people and exchange your own *original* writings." <thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com>
> Date: Thursday, November 4, 2010, 10:02 AM
>
>
> This is a great exercise, Tom.  The role of Camera is like the role of Artist, because when you draw something (even if you don't feel like you draw "well enough," as the too-judgmental world might decree) you have to look at it intensely.  I encourage my friends who don't consider themselves to be artists to still keep a drawing journal.  Even if no one else ever sees it, every time they turn of a page of their drawings, they will remember vividly the look of the item, the time of day, the feel of the air, the smells and exactly how they felt at that moment.
>
> As my first drawing teacher said, looking and seeing are two different things.  We spend all our waking hours looking.  For our souls' sake we need to spend some of that time really /seeing/.
>
> Theta
>
> On 11/3/2010 7:28 PM, Tom Smith wrote:
>> Along the edge of a mountain meadow, we were randomly paired
>> and assigned Photographer and Camera roles.  The Photographer half
>> of each pair guided his or her Camera person with hands on
>> shoulders from behind.  The "Cameras" were to keep their eyes
>> closed until their shoulders were tapped, and close them when
>> tapped again.  After a while, roles were reversed.  As a Camera,
>> I found myself enthralled with every instant of viewing that my
>> Photographer briefly allowed, and at the second tap closed my eyes
>> ravenously hungering for more.  I had never noticed before how
>> exciting tree bark could be.  I left this experience feeling wealthy
>> beyond measure, knowing I could look at anythine I wished for as
>> as long as I liked.
>>
>> image at:
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/9482738@N07/5143830489/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>



-- 
Democracies are indeed slow to make war,
but once embarked upon a martial venture
are equally slow to make peace
and reluctant to make a tolerable,
rather than a vindictive, peace.
Reinhold Niebuhr