Quote:
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Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina, 'The Brightest Bear' The traced bears are very puzzled by the middle bear. [...] Why is he so rounded and not as chiseled? |
Because he needs to hit the gym and pump some iron.
Seriously though, that's one damn good bear drawing. It may not be photo realistic, but it really spurs the imagination and has many elegant elements. The way that the fur is drawn adds texture and depth to the drawing, the rough edges add detail and frame the drawing, and the legs have good placement and proportion. You can easily imagine the bear standing up on its hind legs and coming to life.
I’d find it fairly difficult to draw a bear as well as that because I’d be focusing on trying to draw something photo realistic instead of creating something unique and actually expressing myself. I’d be trying to draw what I think a bear
should look like instead of what
I see when I think of a bear. And I believe the two are vastly different. The former drawing would be empty -- it would have no soul -- while the latter would represent a part of the artist who created it and act as a window into the soul. Which reminds me of something Johnny Depp said about acting:
With any part you play, there is a certain amount of yourself in it.
There has to be, otherwise it's just not acting. It's lying.
~ Johnny Depp
It goes to show that there is much one can learn from a child in terms of stripping away inhibition and predefined labels, rules and boundaries, and throwing caution to the wind. Not striving or trying to
be something, but allowing yourself simply to
be, just as you are, without feeling the need to conform to a pre-defined mold or the expectations of others. In a sense, being
free.
I guess that’s what is known as “the magic of childhood”. Children are able to see the world in a totally different way to their adult counterparts -- the very people who are supposed to be more developed. Children see the same world that adults are looking at, but they see something more... something different... something
alive. There is a depth to the experience. It has a taste, a texture, a smell, a sound... it has a
feeling. Some may say it’s just a phase that you eventually grow out of and the “magic” is replaced by responsibility and greater intelligence and understanding. But I don’t believe it’s something we grow out of. I believe it’s something we gradually go blind to and obscure by our own doing (either consciously or unconsciously).
I wonder how many people looked at the bear Emily drew and just saw a “regular” old (and maybe not very good) bear drawing? How many people looked at it an analysed it in detail and saw only the parts that constitute the whole? How many people looked at it and found deeper meaning? How many people found the bear symbolic? How many people gazed at the bear and saw a part of themself reflected back at them, like a mirror for the soul? How many people could feel a sense of wonder when looking at the bear?
I don’t think there is a right or wrong way to look at something, however you certainly limit yourself when you can only look at something one way. It’s like looking at something with only a telescope when you have other tools available to you, such as a microscope, binoculars, glasses, coloured contact lenses, your naked eyes, the perspective of a mountain top, the perspective of being emerged in water, the perspective of being upside down, etc.
If you never explore the other options you have available (or, at least, take a look around to see if you have any other options available in the first place), you could forever be limited to seeing only a small percentage of what you are viewing. Try living life looking through a telescope all the time. You may be able to see distant things clearly, but anything close to you would be blurry and out of focus. You’d be missing out on a vast amount of detail, detail that could become available to you as soon as you put down your telescope and explored other options.
To those reading this, what detail are you missing out by only looking through the lens of your current “telescope”? When was the last time you experienced a glimmer of the magic that was your constant experience of life when you were a child? When was the last time you gazed intently at the moon and stars at night, riveted in awe? When was the last time you felt literally charged with excitement in eager anticipation of doing something you enjoy tremendously?
You need not dwell on what you currently don't have, longing for days since past. Go out and find a way to reclaim some of that magic and make it a part of your life, if only for a few moments, and you too can experience the latent magic and
aliveness of life.