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February 03, 2006
Keeping It Simple
I have just returned from my trip to Africa. I have some incredible stories to tell and a few great experiences to share. (Watch this space.)
One of the most amazing discoveries was related to creativity. Usually when I travel I try to take as many art supplies as I can with me. Normally I land up with markers, pencils and a bunch of watercolors. This time for watercolors I only took my little Windsor and Newton six-pan watercolor set because I didn’t think I’d paint much due to a hectic travel schedule.
I was wrong. The minute I got there and began to relax in my childhood bedroom I started feeling creative. All the dreams of being an artist when I was a kid came flooding back as I lay on the same bed I slept on a s a kid and remembered staring up at the ceiling and dreaming about my future.
I remembered a little mouse I often wrote about as a kid and had the urge to paint the mouse.
I was a little upset with myself for not bringing more watercolors.
Regardless, I drew the mouse and painted it with the limited colors I had available. (See above.)
I left the picture to dry and went off to have a cup of tea with my mum. I was so excited when I came back and saw the picture. I can honestly say it is one of my favorite watercolor sketches ever. And I can’t believe all I used was a felt-tipped pen and a tiny little six-color paint set.
I now realize that I don’t need the huge, expensive, multicolored paint set I have been coveting for years. The set I have always promised myself I’d have when money was not a factor.
A glass of water, a brush and a few paints is all it really takes to make the colors I need.
It was worth sitting on a plane for nineteen hours and flying from South Africa via Ghana (West Africa) to the United States because on my trip I discovered that sometimes the simplest things can have the most powerful results.
Posted by trevor at February 3, 2006 11:43 AM
Comments
This illustration is absolutely darling. I hope you do more like this, it really is full of life!
Posted by: roz at February 3, 2006 07:03 PM
He's charming! I'm glad you had such a good visit.
Posted by: joyce at February 3, 2006 07:29 PM
needed to hear this...I think I've met this mouse-messenger.. thank you
Posted by: fern at February 5, 2006 11:20 AM
A wonderful image and wonderful advice! Exuberance and delight come from such simple sources. Art is not in the supplies - it is in you, in all of us.
Thank you.
Posted by: Liz at February 5, 2006 11:25 AM
Simplicity is always the most elegant solution...and besides, Lance Armstrong says: It's not about the bike!
Posted by: Paul at February 5, 2006 12:08 PM
Oh what an adorable mouse and he comes with a truth be told story -- Thanks for this ...I needed it as I've been hoarding pennies for better watercolors ...! LOL
Posted by: Lin at February 5, 2006 04:15 PM
All that you say is perfectly true - we should all aim for simplicity ... but it does rather take the fun out of the adreneline rush of going into the art supplies shop and fingering all of the new stuff :-)
Love the little mouse. Will he/she be appearing in any of your new work?
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Trevor replies: Yes, the little mouse is here to stay. I hope to create a children's book and some greeting cards for the mouse to live in.
I too love the rush of seeing art supplies in the art shop. I always will. I think the lesson I learned though is that I don't need to wait for the better supplies to do better work.
Posted by: Robyn at February 5, 2006 04:23 PM
Your illustration makes me happy. Thank you.
Posted by: natascha at February 5, 2006 07:44 PM
What about taking along a box of watercolor pencils? Wouldn't they give you a lot of flexibility, but still be compact enough for packing?
Posted by: Omnibus Driver at February 6, 2006 03:54 PM
I'm crazy about this adorable mouse! I too have caught myself yearning for the "perfect" supplies only to have found just the right ones already in my art bag. Also, I have had the experience of saying to myself, "I don't have enough time for a drawing..." Then I start one and figure I'll have to stop soon. And much to my suprize, I've finished one I like!!
A while ago I wrote to you about my self consiousness about blogging and you wrote a lovely reply to me. Thanks so much. As you can see I'm still at it! Writing about my favorite causes and ideas and drawing away. So glad to visited your site today.
Posted by: lindsay at February 6, 2006 10:21 PM
Such a gorgeous mouse . Keeping it simple is something I'm learning from the wonderful Twyla Tharpe book The Creative Habit... doing stuff with restrictions somehow makes you MORE craetive!!
Posted by: Gerry at February 8, 2006 02:25 AM
The drawing is very cute, and the text and thoughts is GREAT! Thanks for sharing. Found you via danny gregory. :-)
Posted by: Hanna at February 14, 2006 01:01 PM