My ‘month’ of drawing

“Drawing is merely the configuration of what you see.” — Paul Cezanne

I came across this quote a few years ago when checking out MoMA’s exhibit on drawings by Cezanne, who’s better known for his paintings but also drew almost daily to capture interesting (perhaps mundanely so) sights in everyday life. 

“To draw is to see” is how I remembered it and I’ve always found the notion romantic and concrete. That is the artist lifestyle I dream of. Nothing more than to exist, interpret, and express. 

My birthday was in May and sometime the month before an idea popped into my head: What if I challenged — or rather, treated — myself to a daily drawing habit for my birthday month? 

I knew it was going to be tricky because I have a job and a baby (lol) but I still set out to try. It’s supposed to be fun! For my birthday!

Spoiler alert: I only managed to do 10 drawings total for the whole month, but it was still fun and rewarding. And made me think about some things… 

Just pens, pencils, and in one instance, pastels.

Drawing for focus

I spent 5 to 15 minutes after lunch on these drawings, but even so, it was like a taste of the good old days (high school) when I would go to art class for two hours on Saturday afternoons. The only “entertainment” would be an iPod and conversation. As it turns out, having one hand occupied with a pen/pencil is great for curbing distractions. The act of drawing feels like it requires even one degree more concentration than reading. Even if my mind wanders, my hand sort of reins me back with the inertia pushing toward the next line. 

Drawing as investigation

Making these little drawings kept reminding me it’s about the journey not the destination (or at least, not solely about the destination). Sometimes the drawing doesn’t need to feel finished to serve a purpose. For example, one day I drew a chartreuse bottle. Frankly I just didn’t have much time that day and could only draw for five minutes. After those five minutes, I had basically only drawn an outline of the bottle. Would I consider that “done”? I don’t know. Probably not. But as I looked at it more, I felt good about leaving it like that because it exposed to me that shoot, the particular curves creating the distinct shape of the bottle are really tricky (and beautiful, that's why I was motivated to draw it in the first place). I didn’t quite get it right in this five-minute investigation. And I would totally want to try again. By not rushing to flesh out the details, I feel like I actually got to see the bottle a bit better. 

Here’s what MoMA said about Cezanne’s “investigations”:

Drawing almost daily on individual sheets and across the pages of sketchbooks, Cezanne made his process visible, from searching lines that repeat and transform to layered washes of watercolor that explore translucency and luminosity. 

Drawing like there are endless tomorrows 

Related to the previous point… During this exercise, I was also reminded of a Cezanne retrospective I saw in Chicago in 2022 (oui, je suis une Cezanne fangirl). I remember the most shocking thing while walking through it was just noticing how he painted multiples of very similar still lifes — the same apples, oranges, plate, jar, tablecloth… arranged slightly differently. Those oil paintings are not quick jobs! But somehow he felt like he had the time? 

I obviously was not able to draw something everyday, usually because life and/or work got hectic and I didn’t want to be stressed about it — it’s supposed to be a treat! The mood had to be right. But having remembered the joy and value of drawing, I’m inspired to continue to try to make this a habit in my life. And even if I only have small amounts of time to do it, I still don’t want to feel in a hurry to complete something and move right on to the next subject. I want to really, honestly, feel good about looking at something good/interesting over and over, to investigate, process, reprocess, marinate in the details. What’s the big rush? 

An example of Cezanne’s “same but different” paintings, from the exhibition book.

Thanks for reading and HAGS :P

— Jenny

One more thing

This is cool! (“Take leisurely walks and drives around the world while chilling to lo-fi music.”)