Last Friday, I was on leave. And it was extraordinary. I was happy. The weather shifted from cloudy in the early afternoon to rainy to sunshine back to the threat of thunderstorms ended with a partially cloudy evening. The moon was half-covered by the cloud giving me the illusion of staring at a half-moon.
I stumbled upon a printed drawing. It was a blue giant crab with very interesting web-like patterns that reminds me of a dreamcatcher. At that moment, I thought I was dreaming, caught by the blue giant crab. Maybe I was dreaming. It was just me and the drawing. I could not help but to make a mental note of the composition. I traced my fingers through the crab a few times. It helps me to memorize. My zodiac is cancer. That further captivates me.
These days, I think of young people in love. That was this song of mine I kept on humming as I composed this drawing. I thought of a theme park. I love theme parks. It is not that my parent did not bring me to a theme park when I was young. It is the desire to see and experience the world like kids do.
Kids from the park, I wish to be
Song #139 – Kids from the Park
To possess a sense of innocence
To take back all that has taken from me
All the joy take a look at their faces
While this drawing only has three elements – the crab, the couple, and the roses – it took me more than eight hours to complete. This is by far the longest I have spent in drawing. I like the roses that spiral from the center of the drawing. I also like the fact that I can hang this drawing upside down shifting the focus from the crab to the couple.
While I was drawing, my wife was watching watercolor videos on YouTube. I don’t paint in watercolor. But from what I have picked up – since we share the common space, she watching TV in the living room and I drawing in the dining area – watercolor painting is somewhat similar to oil painting. You can do wet-on-wet. And there is an allowance to correct mistakes as you paint. The type of drawing I do, though is monochrome, is less forgiving. And I have to be very certain of the order of layering. My wife has this desire to add colors to my drawings. Perhaps one day, I will give in. For now, I still prefer black and white.
Towards the end of the drawing session, I said to my wife, “Why spent so much time watching watercolor videos when you could spend the time drawing instead?” I mean, she has the watercolor equipment and papers. To that, she replied, “Action faking psychology”. I Googled and it says, “Action faking is all the stuff we do that makes us feel good about our progress without actually making any meaningful progress.”
Aha.