Get In the Boat

I didn’t mean to post my sailboat drawing here at The Ruff Draft. I have another, slightly more clandestine (I like that word) blog called Ruff Edge Design that I think of as the place for my art attempts and my bits of fiction and—I don’t know—stuff that maybe I should take less seriously. But then again, who’s to say?

Yes, it was inspired by Odilon Redon’s Mystical Boat. Most of my drawing and art practice amounts to choosing an image (or letting an image choose me) from a book and trying my hand. Sometimes I strive for technical accuracy; sometimes I just want a jumping-off point. The latter was the case with this trim little boat. I had Sister Wendy’s book close to hand and wanted to try out some new art supplies my sister had gotten me for my birthday (a Derwent Graphitint paint set).

Could I climb into a trim little boat like the one I crafted on paper and let God take the rudder? Well, to a certain extent, I try to do that now, and yes, I have made progress in letting go. So, I’ll keep going. I’ll take my baby steps and smile when I look back to see how far I’ve come, no matter how small the distance I’ve covered.