I Can't Draw – But Who Cares?

“I can’t draw!”
I hear this often, especially by people who are attracted to my Curious Excursions but feel the need to profess how much they are not an artist.
Drawing is one of the creative tools in my toolkit because it’s a practice in attention and awareness. The kind of drawing I encourage is about looking, not producing.
Drawing as meditation for those who can’t sit still
I began drawing in 1994 as a way to still my thoughts. Encouraged by others to meditate but unable to sit still, I found something amazing when I came upon Frederick Franck’s book, Zen of Seeing: Drawing As Meditation. Franck’s work helps people calm and still themselves by focusing and rendering on paper what they see.
When you look, really look at something, a calm settles in. The concept of ‘being in the moment’ finally roots in a practice of applying your pen or pencil to paper. When you truly give your attention to something, you occupy the moment in a simple yet profound way.

Studying your drawing later, you can assess it not as a true depiction of a bowl of lemons, but as a map of your attention. It’s easy to see where your mind wandered – a part of the drawing will appear false. You will see where you started to depict what you thought a bowl of lemons looked like, instead of what it actually looks like.
The kind of pen to paper I encourage in my excursions is not about drawing. It’s not about crafting something you can frame or show off to prove your artistic talent. It is not an exercise to make you feel inept.
Because a product – some marks on a page – is the result of ‘drawing’, we often conflate it beyond what it really is – a practice in attention, focus and awareness.
Drawing is a gateway practice – one that can highlight not a result, but the boons inherent in the process. These boons can include:

• Calmness in the midst of busyness
• Focus when your attention is pulled in a million directions
• Appreciation for the simplicity of life’s expression in objects
• Stillness in the mind that allows insights and solutions to arise naturally.

Consider some of these other gateway practices you might have experienced:
Ropes exercises are not to prove that you’re a monkey or a born climber. They give you confidence.
Trust falls – where you lean back into the arms of another, letting yourself fall – is not practice for becoming a stunt person. They teach you how to let go and trust another.
Cooking classes are not meant to train you to prove yourself as the world’s best chef. They show you a few tricks to make food more enjoyable.
Speeches or impromptu presentations are not training you to hit the stand-up comedy circuit. They teach you that you’re not going to die when you stand in front of a crowd and speak.
Yoga classes are not meant to train you to become a professional contortionist. They help you enjoy your body, be present, and build strength, flexibility and focus. (I have to laugh when people say they can’t do yoga because they are inflexible. Right, I want to say, it wasn’t the 15 years on the mat that made me this flexible, I was born this way!)
What my creativity workshops are about
The exercises in my Curious Excursions are all designed to lead you to a greater understanding of your own creative process. No one is there to prove how well they draw or write.
When people look at my journals, they often remark about how talented I am, how compelling the pages are. But if you look carefully, you’ll see that it’s not because I’ve rendered things so well. I haven’t mixed my paints or executed the drawings masterfully.
What’s engaging about my journals is the sense of freedom and play that is tucked in the pages. The joy I’ve gleaned from the moments I have captured is palpable and that’s what resonates with people.
So when you tell me you want to come to the Curious Excursions but you’re not an artist and you can’t draw, I say you’re in the right place. The explorations in the world and in our journals are designed to trigger creativity, not mastery.
I want that joy for others, which is why I created and lead these workshops. I do not and will never teach the craft of writing or the craft of art making – that’s not my mission. My mission is to evoke playfulness, awareness of the self and the richness of the world, and fun.
Creativity + travel + coaching = transformation in a fun and playful way. Join us for a Curious Excursion in Boulder or Paris. Because I don’t care if you can or can’t draw.
The early registration discount for Paris ends April 30th, so don’t hesitate!