The Essence of Things

Drawing from real life is easy. Well, it is easy relative to drawing without anything to copy from at all. Once the concept is established and actual scenery or picture is present, I find it easier to render my interpretation of it in paper. What is hard for me is drawing from my imagination. No pictures, no sceneries, nothing but the blank paper in front, the drawing medium on hand and the very distinct picture I have in my mind which has to pass through thousands of neurons, flow through tiny blood vessels and squeeze out of my hand then through the tip of my pen or pencil and on to the paper. Like a radio wave signal, it flows through hills and valleys and depending on the reciever, it might come out clear at the other end or it may not.
In most cases, it does not. But that does not necessarily mean I get disappointed. Sometimes, it turns out much better.

Last year, a couple of days after I have given birth to my beautiful daughter, Julia, I spent most of my time in bed. Recuperating. Since I didn't have much to do, I took my sketch pad and pastels and began sketching the image that was retained in my mind on how my new born baby looked like. I didn't like the outcome then and had stashed it away.

But as I look at the sketch now that Julia is already a very active toddler at nearly 2 years old, I realize and am amazed at how accurate that sketch was on giving an impression of how I have felt about her at that time.
Note that I said - "felt" and not how she looked. Which is a world of difference.
Looking at this picture, I get to again feel her shiny glow of invisible fresh energy, all bundled up in her own sphere, as if wrapped in a bubble of her silent world.
Fragile but pulsing with life. Sleeping yet awake. Manifested, yet forming still.
I remember reading about Zen drawing in a book somewhere - it talked about emphasis on drawing the essence of things, on what makes the cat a cat, rather than on how the cat looked like. (It had confused me at that time. I didn't get it. How could you draw a cat without copying the physical appearance of a cat?)

In a way, this drawing is to me, what makes Julia who she was when she was a baby and not exactly how she looked like on the outside.
I am happy with this drawing. It is not the normal copy exact style I usually have but that of the essence of her.
I am reminded of the famous quote from the Little Prince - "What is essential is invisible to the eye".
To be able to express the essential, the unseen, that which is felt, is a nice path to explore.
You should try it.