Art by Michael Ricketson / Blog

Here is a spontaneous drawing that I just created!  I drew it with little conscious thought about process, standing rather far back from the paper and sketching freely in large strokes.  

Recently I had bought a book, "Expressive Drawing" by Steven Aimone.  It talks all about freeing up the creative source within oneself, and this little exercise that I did was based on the first exercise in the book.  

While drawing, I thought about the year that it had been, and how I had lost my cat Clementine, and how soon now that I'd have to say, "That happened last year."  I was also aware that my cat Bruce was watching me very closely, almost getting ready to pounce onto my drawing table!  He found the gestural strokes of my arm to be very inviting.  

The more that I paint and read about art, the more I realize that creativity, and not technique, is the essence of art.  Of course I've always known this in my heart, but it takes a while for it to sink into the mind, when one is so busy trying to copy reality as it appears to us everyday.  We must strive not to be limited by rules, expectations and the constraints put upon our eyes.  As the great artist Paul Klee said, "Art does not reproduce the visible;  rather, it makes visible."  

I look forward to doing much more abstract work like this, in 2013!    

"Improvisation #2"
Wax pastel on paper, 14" x 17".