Why I Enjoy Drawing - Susan Hynes

Why I Enjoy Drawing – Susan Hynes

            When I was little, my mom always encouraged my brother and I to go outside, build things, take things apart, and make stuff. Making stuff included drawing, painting, sculpting, carving, or any other art form that you could thing of. We learned how to play an instrument, braze and weld, use a lathe, work with motors, and many other ways to express our creativity. Unfortunately, you can’t do many of those things everywhere you go; but you can draw anywhere. This is why drawing became my favorite art form, I could pack up a pencil and some paper and take it to my swim meets, in long car rides (or even short ones), and to school.

           

When I started to enjoy drawing, I would draw teeny-tiny pictures right in the middle of a full sheet of paper, I thought I was showing off my ‘detail skills.’ My mom would always tell me “draw bigger,” which I ignored until a few years ago. I thought I enjoyed drawing before, but drawing bigger made it so much better. I could draw in more detail and try to make the picture as representative of real life as possible. I would carry papers and pictures in folders in my backpack throughout middle and high school hoping to have time to draw in class. I would sometimes ‘make’ time to draw in class, which would cause me to get a mean look from a teacher or two. I would try to draw as fast as I could while maintaining the same level of ‘perfection,’ I didn’t like spending more than one day on a drawing. Eventually, I got over that and I can now spend days on a drawing trying to make it as photo-realistic as I can. Over the years, drawing has become my hobby and stress relief, I simply enjoy doing it; I have not real reason behind it other than it has been a part of my entire life, but it makes me happy.