I started attending art classes and it is great fun – at the moment I am the grandpa and only male amongst a couple of ladies. They are noisy, fun to look at, and always discussing things at the top of their voices; this is not my normal scene. They are not shy to speak their minds. And they become quite animated; ask them what their favourite movies are or were and they will end up with loud shouts, laughter and gestures about the most disgusting restaurants they ever visited and to top it all they had to pay for such a horrendous experience. “Claim your money back!” they would scream. “That is the only language these rip-offs will ever understand.” This will open a new topic: rip-offs!!!! In the meantime, background music is blaring and that in itself always causes some animated discussions. And they try to paint.
When I was much younger my hands started itching when I was idle doing nothing
with my hands. The only cure was to go into my garage and start working with my
tools. Now that I am much older this has cooled off because I am always busy
making things. I love wood.
I am not a doodler by nature – my entire life I am practising law. My telephone
conversations were mostly with other lawyers discussing legal things. No –
doodling and I were not friends. And now? I just told a friend of mine that I
started doodling. And it is as if it is a spiritual experience – it opens up my
mind, spirit and soul. And my fear of the white page evaporates.
Now with art classes [it feels as if I am attending a free stand-up
comedy show and I get a cup of tea to top it off] I became interested in doodling
and I must say I really like it. It stretches the mind; it loosens up my hand
and I learn serendipitously – as I blunder along. And the other day my art
teacher showed me a little greetings card with the most intricate and interesting
doodles on. It was a “wow” factor. And she allowed me to take it home to copy
and to wonder about it. What was in the artist’s mind? I used a toothpick and my fountain pen to sketch it.
She put a picture of a cat in front of me the other day and my very
first reaction [I did not disclose it] was to say, no thank you I don’t like
cats. But I kept quiet and started sketching it. Why not? And I really liked
it.
And I created my own. And posted it as profile image on my whatsapp. Someone
reacted and wrote me; she was shocked and under the impression that I lost all
of my marbles; there must be something drastically wrong with my mind to have
created this lot. Well, I leave it to you to decide – I assure you that I am feeling
fine, just fine!!
