When I arrived at drawing this morning, I felt stressed out and grumpy. Drawing straightened me out. It offers two of the best remedies for the blues: work and beauty.
For the warmup one- and two-minute gestures, the model mostly chose poses with a lot of twist, heart-meltingly lovely:
Something good was happening in my drawings of the ten-minute poses, and the last one here (20 min) has some of the best drawing I’ve done in a long time, if not ever. In them, and especially in the last two, I used a slightly different approach to get the edges of the shadows. It’s so obvious that I don’t know why (a) I didn’t do it before, and (b) it makes such a difference, but I didn’t and it does.
A card stuck to a bookcase in my childhood home had this quote (more or less) from T. H. White’s The Once and Future King typed on it.
“The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlyn . . . “is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. . .. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the thing for you.”
When I was a teenager, I discovered that if I substituted “creative work” for “learning,” this rang even more true for me. Maybe they’re the same thing. Throw in some contemplation of beauty, too, and a bad mood doesn’t stand a chance.
Sermons in Stones 
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March 25, 2014 at 8:04 am
Laurel McClure
What a lovely group of drawings. I think the key to emerging from sadness and/or irritability is to do something that engages you fully, drawing you out of yourself. Learning may do that for some, creating for another. Work does it for many. I can start the day in a blue or gray mood, but once I arrive, don the white coat, and walk into that first exam room, I am fully engaged with someone else’s difficulties, not my own. I have neither time nor the inclination to stay inside my own head, stewing. This, I think, is why service to others, whether paid or unpaid, is so uplifting. Well said, Laurel. Thanks. –AZM
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March 25, 2014 at 10:52 pm
rosibroom
The circumstances that led me here to this post, and ultimately, your page, can only be described as a cheeky surprise from the universe. Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful drawings, I really enjoyed this. Thank you, and welcome! And now you’ve got me curious about the circumstances. Do tell! –AZM
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March 28, 2014 at 8:46 pm
Andrew Hidas
Lovely sequence, Amy, really enjoyed these, though I don’t understand one whit about how the heck you do it! There is tremendous grace reflected here, great love and respect for incarnate life. All I’d add is a third blues remedy: a long walk! How I do it–same way you get to Carnegie Hall, I guess: practice! Though I’m not hoping to get Carnegie Hall (or let’s say the Guggenheim), just wanting to keep drawing. You are right about the third remedy. Thanks for the reminder. –AZM
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