Friday, November 06, 2009

IF: Blur


Pencil J. Pencil...further proof the life is but a blur. You lived well these past 3 weeks...you were kind, humble, always did what was asked of you...but now...your time is done.

I drew a face on my eraser...he too is a friend. And every time I go to erase something I stop and see the look of horror on his face. Do I REALLY need to erase that line? What could I do better next time so I can keep him around longer? I find that people often abuse eraser privileges...especially at the start of an artistic career. I mean we could draw general to specific and really keep that nice sketchy feel...but too often we are overwhelmed by a need for perfection in the beginning and start hammering out details too early...and find ourselves making mistake after mistake and in the quest for perfection end up with something dull and lifeless...misproportioned...awkward...items not placed well in the composition...value sets clashing...and we drag our poor eraser friends out...sure there are times to erase...it isn't a capital offense...but if we spend more time drawing and less time erasing wouldn't the world be a better place...and our eraser friends would perhaps be around a little longer...and they would thank us...

8 comments:

Connie said...

May the pencil be happy in the great pencil box in the sky and may you continue to be inspired to philosophize by your eraser!

valerie walsh said...

clever and wonderful! everything is alive :)

Detlef said...

Gee, 3 weeks is a short life. You must give them a real workout!!!!

Sally Taylor said...

Thanks for the smile your art gave me today!

froggie is... said...

aaww man, that's AWESOME! i want him with my blues, too! "))

i was brutally taught(ha!) no seriously...(ha!) by a mean prof (hee, hee!)

ok, seriously...i was taught "put your pencil to paper. draw and draw again. and again. and don't lift the lead til you have it right BEFORE YOU EVEN THINK OF ERASING. in fact, you CAN'T erase. ever. just keep drawing line over line over line and pretend that if you pick up that eraser it will ignite in your hand and then your work will be on fire and then i'll give you an "f" for not getting it done. and then i'll send you to the nurse's office. but you will have learned something. in fact, just give me that eraser." and then he'd chuck it across the studio.

you must LOVE teaching! all that power! i STILL feel him over my shoulder! ")))

steve said...

Too funny!! This had my wife cracking up too. Really hilarious and well done post Brian!

Caroline said...

Och, poor wee pencil - but 3 short weeks of life! I look forward to seeing eraser around for many years to come! Love it!!

roberta baird said...

You are too clever!!.... and I'll bet your students adore you!

Unfortunately... my eraser friend was chewed up by the dog again... so I had to make friends with a new one!