Making deliberately "bad art"
Many of you may make art yourselves, in some form or fashion. I firmly believe we are ALL creative! Whenever I talk to other artists, so many say that the hardest thing is just getting started. Even after you’ve set aside time, it can be daunting to stare at a blank canvas, page, or screen. Know what I mean? All of the self-talk and the overwhelming lack of spontaneous inspiration hits hard.
A few years ago, I was putting so much pressure on myself to produce “sell-able” art every time I went into the studio that I knew I needed to mix things up. I needed something to help me get started and give me a little access to joy. I started doing a blind contour drawing each day as a warm-up. A blind contour drawing is a drawing made without looking down at the paper. The idea is to help the drawer slow down and notice what is right in front of them. The drawer maintains eye contact with the subject- could be a person, a mirror, or a photo- and draws using one continuous line without lifting the pencil from the paper. I had no control over how these looked and the results were ALWAYS laughably bad. It was like they were so bad, that they were “good.” It was just the thing I needed to take the pressure off. (DM me or comment on this post if you want some ideas on how to add blind contour drawings to your routine, even if you’re not a visual artist!)
As I kept doing these drawings, I realized that they were becoming a thing. It felt like a type of caricature. I decided to start painting them. And, when I shared them on my instagram, I even had a friend commission one as a gift for a family member. I started calling them “bad self portraits” after listening to the eponymous song by Lake Street Drive a few too many times.
Anyway! Scrambling for time, I decided to bring these portraits to my art club as a hasty share item earlier this month. I was a little nervous about it, but my art club loved them! They saw them as accessible portraits- an alternative to the hugely expensive traditional portraits with a little more flare. They loved the silliness. They saw them as the potential to be portraits, cards, and profile avatars!
I was surprised. And pretty happy. I figured the next step was to tell you, dear reader. Bad Self Portraits are nearly here and I wanted you to have first dibs. Send me a picture of a person, a couple, or a group. Or, an animal! We would have a conversation about coloring and some options. Then, I would need about 2 weeks to get your portrait back to you! This is a great gift (or card) idea for those of you celebrating holidays this December!
As always, readers, keep in touch. Let me know what's on your mind. Are you working on anything new? Have you been able to slow down with Fall? If so, how?