Another Scapescape

Just for fun, another sketch of garlic scapes highlighting negative spaces.

There's something about freely "scribbling" with a thick stick of graphite that I really enjoy. Permission to be messy. And the pure joy of "making marks."

The phrase "mark making" is often used in contemporary art education and art criticism, and sometimes it seems just so pretentious.

But I have to say there are times when it's just the thing! After all, don't we all yearn to leave our own unique mark in the world? To know that somehow the world isn't quite the same and is in fact better off for our being here?

Besides, you can create some interesting textures by scribbling!

Scapes of the Day

A little over two years ago, on June 1, 2007 to be exact, I was inspired by Elizabeth Perry's blog called "Woolgathering" (visit it and you will see why) to start a daily drawing practice. I started with a very small sketchbook, so there wouldn't be any BIG expectations. Just that I would do my best to draw at least one thing every day.

Unlike Liz Perry, I didn't choose to start a blog and post a drawing every day. Her faithfulness to that truly amazes and delights me. She's been doing this for more than four years, I believe. And I don't think she has missed a day!

I knew that I didn't want to worry about my drawings being seen right away. No concerns about an "audience" or who likes what or doesn't like what. Every now and then I have shown certain drawings and occasionally a whole sketchbook to a few people.

Again and again since June 1, 2007 I've realized what a truly revolutionary and regenerative thing it is for me to draw on a regular basis. Especially when I do it so frequently--it's best when I do it every day, though I confess to there being stretches when I forget or take a break--that it's just something I do. And something I do primarily for myself and my own enjoyment, only secondarily for public viewing.

Drawing regularly, with little pressure to impress anyone or to produce anything in particular, helps me to be more playful and more creative in other areas. And some days I look at what I've just drawn and I am totally enraptured by it! Like a mother whose young child has just brought her a drawing, even if a mere scribble, and she (the mother) is filled with love and joy and gratitude for this creative offering. As corny as it may sound, I guess I'd have to say that in those moments drawing allows me to be both the child and the mother!

For a whole bunch of reasons I now feel more ready to post more drawings more frequently. Not every day, mind you! But when I feel like it, have managed to get a good photo (that is often the step that bogs me down), and then just do it.

This drawing of garlic scapes was done last year. More to come!

Scapes

I'm totally smitten with scapes. By which I don't mean landscapes or seascapes (although I do love those, too) but garlic scapes! That's what they call the tops of garlic plants--the last several inches of stem with the buds of would-be garlic flowers--available at farmers' markets this time of year.

Garlic scapes are sold as food, and they are edible (and tasty), but I buy them mostly as art. Because the stems do all kinds of crazy twists and turns and curlicues and loop-de-loops in those last several inches, a bunch of garlic scapes stuck in a vase is a playful bit (or shall I say, bite?) of edible sculpture.

I draw them over and over and over--sometimes focusing on the graceful curving lines, sometimes on the spaces in between, sometimes just on the joy they give me when viewing them. I find them endlessly fascinating.

I swear some mornings the scapes that I've left in a vase of water have grown an inch or two overnight! I really don't know if it's true (I keep forgetting to measure them in order to keep track), but it sure feels as if they get longer and taller.

If you keep them long enough, they may start to smell a bit too strong--not your ordinary floral bouquet kind of scent!--and the papery wrapping around the buds begins to open and there are new details to draw if you feel so inclined.

And when you feel like eating them, you can chop them into a stir fry or simply brush the whole things with olive oil and grill them. The stem when grilled takes on the consistency of asparagus with a very mild garlic flavor, and the buds get slightly crispy! Quite tasty!

Today's two photos are of two different bunches of garlic scapes in our house at the moment. Stay tuned for some sketchbook scape art coming up!