Cat Bennett makes the point that drawing is only “marks on paper” and as a child everyone draws freely, revelling in the simple act of making marks on paper, and anywhere else they get the chance! Cat Bennett developed her approach to teaching drawing through working with The Saturday Morning Drawing Club she started in Boston. The Confident Creative is colourfully illustrated mostly with Bennett’s own work and that of the members of the club.
Make an Appointment With Regular Daily Practice
Frequent practice is an essential part of this drawing course, but is mostly about drawing for oneself not about the grind of dry, soulless technique. Bennett suggests making a regular, ideally daily, appointment in one’s diary just as one would do with anything else. She recognises that other commitments will occasionally get in the way but by having a formal appointment a conscious decision is needed to miss the appointment with drawing.
The drawing exercises in The Confident Creative are fun and the objectives, style and approach of drawing is down to the student. It is delightful to find a book on drawing in which there is neither shaded cubes and spheres nor vanishing points and perspective.
Free Expression for Student to Find Their Own Style and Approach
Bennett’s approach is liberating as it removes the judgemental element that gets in the way of learning new skills for adults. Many say they cannot draw but mean they cannot draw like Durer, Picasso or whoever. That expectation of what is “good” drawing gets in the way of learning by making mistakes and creative insights – it causes adults to give up rather than find their own way.
Cat Bennett provides a series of broad lessons backed up by tips and variations to try. It is not prescriptive but it encourages students to find out what works for them. The text is tight and lively and should be accessible by anyone who aspires to draw.
The approach recognises that there will be many attempts that do not work. Throw them away and start again, it is only marks on paper, the materials are not expensive so what harm has been done? And something will have been learned. When discussing this book with a designer she made the remark “a ballpoint pen and cheap lined paper is very liberating” – it is cheap and disposable so if the drawer does something he does not like it does not matter. This is very much in line with Cat Bennett’s philosophy.
Drawing as Meditation or a Spiritual Activity
Cat Bennett suggests that drawing, or artistic activity generally, is like meditation and the spiritual aspects of yoga. It creates a single point of focus and when one is fully engaged the distractions of the outside world are ignored. For a period the artist is “in the zone”, as sportsmen call it, when nothing else matters and the mind is totally at one with the task in hand.
Whether one is spiritual or not, it is true taking part in an activity that requires full concentration does free the mind from the everyday pressures of work and life. So it becomes a therapeutic release for participants and the approach in The Confident Creative is particularly suited to relaxation through being totally absorbed in an activity with no outside pressures or expectations.
Childlike Fun and Joy from Drawing and Simply Making Marks on Paper
The techniques that Cat Bennett and The Saturday Morning Drawing Club use puts the childlike fun and joy back into learning to draw. Whether already an accomplished artist or complete novice The Confident Creative will enable the reader to learn new things about themselves, find new ways of self-expression and achieve new confidence.
It should be stressed that although the approach is philosophical and largely self directed the book is not trivial. There is much sound advice and practical tips with an overall approach. It is down to the student to use Bennett’s guidance when and how it suits the path the individual is taking. It is therefore a book that will not only be used as a course of study but as reference and source of inspiration to refresh the mind when creativity fails.
From regular practice, playing with marks on paper and just drawing to please oneself confidence will grow. It is an all round confidence and improved self-esteem from realising that mistakes are only steps on the way to accomplishment. Above all follow Cat Bennett and The Confident Creative and add creativity, pleasure and enjoyment to all aspects of life.
The Confident Creative, Drawing to Free the Hand and Mind (2010, ISBN: 978-1-84409-185-0) by Cat Bennett is published as a paperback by Findhorn Press at £8.99 ($14.95).
Cat Bennett is Boston based artist, illustrator and teacher based in Boston, USA. She also runs drawing retreats and there will be a Weekend Retreat in London’s Dragons Hall in Covent Garden on 25-26 September. It will use the approach in The Confident Creative to expand the creative parts of the mind through drawingThis forms part of Cat Bennett’s teaching programme aimed at liberating the creative artist within from self-imposed inhibitions.
Martin P Wilson - Martin is a director of major business change & turnaround consultant by profession but a widely published writer & photographer by ...
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