Amazing Diversity : Unfathomable Variety
Occasionally I do sketches of complete strangers, when I find myself presented with the opportune moment and recently, I have taken to challenging myself by doing the quick drawings on whatever paper I have at hand (thus the lines from my steno pad). The subjects I choose are those I haven’t had a lot of experience drawing. I love the lines that age and time draw on the canvas of the human face.
As a whole, American society is very jaded in it’s perception of what defines beauty. Advertising tends to feed us it’s own criteria for the very narrow field of what it considers pretty.
The intimate experience of drawing strangers has given me a very sincere appreciation of the diversity of the human race. I have always loved drawing other people. But as a younger artist, I stayed within the realms of the familiar; young, pretty female subjects. So it only seems natural to expand into a much wider spectrum of humanity.
I believe that beauty can be found almost everywhere in creation. I think the more unusual and less familiar something is, the more potential it has for being an expression of true beauty.
It is always healthy to push yourself just a bit beyond your comfort zone. You never know what you might learn.