I spent the morning drawing and I really enjoyed it. Then I spent much of the rest of the day debating whether what I’d done was any good or not. To be honest I realise this preoccupation with judging the work produced stops me from actually doing the work.

At some point you have to stop obsessing over things and just make a mark.

In Drawing For The Absolute And Utter Beginner, Claire Watson Garcia writes:

Among adolescent and adult beginners who do start the process of reviving their artistic life, many are focused on the talent quest. Much as they might want to develop their artistic potential, they fear they’re destined to be a person with “no talent” who can “never learn to draw.” But it’s simply not the case that only a handful among us are equipped to pursue meaningful artistic expression. Drawing is a capacity that is developed, not something that springs fully formed one’s hands. The best way to learn how to draw is to forget about the talent quest and even any long-term drawing goal that you might have. Instead, this book asks you to focus only on the step-by-step instruction – a learning process designed to give you the understanding and skills needed to begin drawing with confidence.

The ‘talent quest’ is clearly a killer. I’m not exactly sure how one consciously stops being concerned by it, I guess you just keep showing up and keep trying. Perhaps it’s just a question of checking your expectations at the door. Recently I found myself being really disappointed with a pastel portrait I had produced. I wanted it to be a masterpiece and it wasn’t. In fairness it wasn’t a bad attempt especially if you consider it was the second picture I had done with pastels. Somehow even I overlooked that somewhat salient fact. I guess if I’m being honest there’s a part of me that thinks artistic expression is so subjective that I might never produce compelling work. Sure my five year old niece goes around telling people I’m an artist, but it is often to laughter from adults amused by my efforts. I feel this great pressure to do a sort of ‘cost-benefit’ analysis for this hobby (or whatever it is) to prove to others and myself that I’m not wasting my time.

But there are glimpses of light even in this shadowy tunnel if you stop to notice them. On October 19th 2010 I uploaded a self-portrait sketch to Dailybooth and received this comment from a complete stranger:

thats a really cool drawing.. i really envy you for being able to draw

It was rather surreal reading that because I had thought much the same thing about other people. I certainly hadn’t thought I could draw… erm, even after I produced drawings. Even after I produced drawings I really liked and were proud of (I’m sure that sketch is one of my best to date). I guess one of my central fears is that an artist is someone else, certainly not me, and certainly not something I can become. But surely this is a silly fear. Surely every time I create something I am an artist. Producing an artwork is a process, but so too is becoming an artist or continuing to be an artist. Perhaps the best way to maintain a sense of perspective on your own development is to be constantly looking back and forward, to consider your latest work in the context of your larger body of work and to critique new pieces with a reasonable knowledge and understanding of your current level of experience.

Drawing For The Absolute And Utter Beginner is one of the better drawing books that I’ve encountered, I’d highly recommend it to anyone.

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Discussions regarding publishing and electronic books have concerned themselves mostly with how books will be consumed and how they will be monetized. But what if there are even more staggering implications for how we experience narratives and texts? Futurist (and minor Australian television celebrity) Mark Pesce has much to say on this topic and it is both fascinating and frankly unnerving.

Mark Pesce:

At this point a question needs to be asked: what’s so electronic about an electronic book? If I open the Stanza application on my iPhone, and begin reading George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, I am presented with something that looks utterly familiar. Too familiar. This is not an electronic book. This is ‘publishing in light’. I believe it essential that we discriminate between the two, because the same commercial forces which have driven links from online newspapers and magazines will strip the term ‘electronic book’ of all of its meaning. An electronic book is not simply a one-for-one translation of a typeset text into UTF-8 characters. It doesn’t even necessarily begin with that translation. Instead, first consider the text qua text. What is it? Who is it speaking to? What is it speaking about?

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After completing my first 2047 words of NaNoWriMo yesterday, I headed off to a local book fete (a fundraiser for a rural firefighter service). I scanned all the titles haphazardly scattered across tables. There was a piece of non-fiction among the ‘fifty cent novels.’ Sections bled into each other. I noticed another fifty cent novel from a very prolific and successful Australian author (who I know is on Twitter). And in light of this and NaNoWriMo, a new thought occurred to me…

Do published authors frequent secondhand bookstores and fetes and sales?

Even leaving the ethical implications of book resales (second hand books don’t result in any income for authors, or count towards recouperation of an advance) aside, how would you react if you saw your book at such a sale? Be grateful that somebody bought it in the first place and decided to share it with the world? Wonder why they didn’t think it was worth keeping? Do you buy it, or leave it there in the hope you make a new fan? Do you offer to autograph it (after all this might be for charity)?

And what, heaven forbid, if your blood, sweat and tears has a 50 cent sticker on it?

Like most ‘entertainment products’ (if you’ll forgive the expression), books tend to exist both as individual artistic expressions and mass produced, mass marketed products. Sometimes the value of the work can be confused with the cost of the raw materials – the paper, the binding. Certainly when it comes to digitilised product consumers expect the work to be available to them more cheaply, even though the experience of the story (or movie or music) it could be argued is essentially the same. But talk to many Kindle authors who offer their books for a couple of dollars and you soon discover that a cheaper price point has it’s own benefits. The barrier to entry is smaller so more people take a chance on your book. If they enjoy it, there’s a good chance they’ll enjoy your other work. They may buy from you again.

This, I suppose, is the case I’d make for secondhand bookstores, free content online, and even traditional brick-and-mortar libraries!

I first heard singer-songwriter Sophie B. Hawkins on the radio. Then I discovered her album Whaler at the local library. Did this hurt her bank balance? I severely doubt it. Because after I discovered it there, I bought it somewhere else. Plus her other albums, and a lot of singles, compilations, movie soundtracks on which she appeared. She toured Australia two consecutive years and I followed her around from gig-to-gig for weeks at a time. The work is the introduction to the artist. An individual may connect with the work, and by extension, the artist, or they may not. But the point is they were more comfortable in trying something new because the cost was reduced or, in the case of libraries and free content, removed entirely.

Don’t forget also that secondhand bookstores are the last refuge for out-of-print books. When I discovered my favourite author John A. Keel, for example, all his work was out-of-print. It was only through diligent searching of secondhand bookstores across the world – Australia, New Zealand, America, England, Scotland – that I was able to get my hands on these treasures. eBay, Abebooks and Books and Collectibles were particularly helpful in this regard.

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