You may remember my post about getting creative to beat addiction. I mention that I like to drink when I have small holidays such as weekend getaways. I was toying with the idea of experimenting with art to get my mind off the urge to drink as when I have a couple of drinks my mind starts to get creative, so why not just put my mind in a creative mood and not drink. So, I have been doing this and my results go a little something like this. I don’t know anything about art, but charcoal sketches interest me, so I bought a charcoal pencil and an art pad to travel around with. At first, I wasn’t very interested in drawing. I tried drawing a few times on days that I was not having a getaway. I gradually got interested in it with the help of you tube videos. I tried my hand at mountain landscapes and then trees.
On a recent trip I really felt like, let’s just have a little drink and was almost going to give in, but then I opened YouTube up and watched a video about trees again. I followed the video step by step and once the video ended, I added my own details. I couldn’t stop. I liked the result. I think my artwork had improved, but the feeling of looking into details and creating scenery was amazing. After the drawing I looked out my hotel window and imagined that I was adding different buildings and trees to make the landscape more appealing and erasing some of the not so attractive buildings. I don’t think I have ever really felt this way about my surroundings. I hope to continue my journey in art and see how far it can help to strengthen my resistance to addictions.
