Meditative Drawing

I

have never been one to slow down easily. I am more of a squirrel than a turtle. But one doorway into slowing down for me has been meditative drawing. Taking time to VERY slowly draw one simple thing. For me, drawing twigs or small branches has been such a rewarding experience. First I find a twig with some little interesting bumps or cracks or twists. Then I sit with the twig -- holding it, looking at it, making up a story about it. I sketch the basic line of the twig on the paper (to make sure it fits!). Then I begin at one end and very slowly progress up the branch - noting and drawing every single little bump, crack, split... Taking time as I go to notice if I am gripping the pencil too tightly, if I am continuing to breathe, if I am enjoying what I am doing. My art teacher says that drawing is a way of "eating time". You get lost and time feeds you in some way. It truly becomes more about the process than the product. I have thought it might be fun to fill a whole small sketchbook with twigs.

I wish you the stretching out of time that meditative drawing can offer.

TWIG

The drawing teacher gives us each one twig, says “You have the next two hours

to draw this twig.”

WHAT???

I can draw this twig in 30 seconds. I can draw

100 twigs in two hours.

Patience, slowness, being careful have never been my watchwords.

I am a skate-across-the-surface kind of gal.

I am not running away from anything or trying to win a race.

At 76 I am simply eager

to have it all, to have more, to taste more pies, to hear more songs, to write more words.

Still, I see the odd truth of the way slowing down gives one a different sort of more.