The Written Portrait

One of my favorite parts of art class are timed figure sketches. Artists circle around a person, generally naked, and sketch him or her for a given amount of time. Whatever you happen to sketch in that amount of time, whatever scribbles of scratch you etch on your canvas, is good enough. There is the five minute sketch, 10, 15, 30, and then an hour. Each session gradually elongates, and it’s fascinating how the focus of the figures changes over time, and with time. Each impression is different, though the person hasn’t moved. The difference, is in the way the artist sees the figure in those allotted moments. In 5 minutes maybe it’s the curve of the woman’s side that stands out most, reminiscent of organic matter, love, the earth and fertility. But with 30 minutes to look and understand, the artist sees something else. The lines in the corners of her eyes are shaped as such an angle to match the way her hands lie on the chair in front of her. Her face rests on her hands, and together, the intersection of face and hands makes a beautiful pattern of lines like relicts of a tide moved seaward. Between her soft wrinkles, the artist notices a gentle birthmark disrupting the pattern just enough to emphasize beauty’s imperfections. The artist is enchanted by this natural disruption, and focuses his sketch intimately on this singular aspect. With 30 minutes, the sketch is no longer simply about capturing the facts of what are, but unfolding the essence of what is. And if given an hour, the artist’s entire perception shifts again.

The Art in Travel, a Documented Philosophy

Alain de Button says the importance of capturing and understanding the moments and world around us are intrinsically threaded into the creative interpretation of those moments and that world, in his short essays The Art of Travel. To Button reception of the world is opened when the viewer opens his mind to recreating the facts of the things around him, into meaning. In this way, each artist or traveller must literally draw or sketch the world around him. Button says, for instance, if you send two men through a forest, the artist sees the ways the different branches jut from the trunk, and notice the dappling of light through the trees. The non-artist will walk, head down, following the wends of the dirt without discovering even what the forest contains; he will never be able to tell you how many types of trees there were, or whether the mold grew in green or yellow. As a writer, my world is both written and visual. I write to create pictures in people minds. I take written words and hope readers can envision a world that I sketch for them. Primarily, I love to write what I call portraits. I try to capture a scene, a moment, and person, or an emotion that can only be understood through the arts. But instead of using oils and canvas to depict what emotion looks like, I try to paint a structure built in sentences. But only just the structure. It’s a semblance of what could be, and I hope the reader fills in the gaps from the inside with his or her own knowledge; adding to the narrative and the portrait by filling it with understanding or personal color. Button recognizes that some artists are artists of language. He says whether by paint or word, the art of experience bares the same result. Sketching both provides the opportunity for an artist to understanding his surrounding more, and enriches the audience in a far deeper understanding of what is. For instance, when Vincent Van Gogh escaped the rigorous precincts of modern painters in France, he was able to create scenes that truly allowed people to understand the emotion, the vibe, and the energy of places. Through these sketches, these personal interpretations, people began to see parts of French culture in a whole new way. I was inspired by this idea of written sketches for deeper personal understanding of the world. And so, for the next hour or so, I am going to attempt to sketch Colombia in a 5 minute sketch, a 10 minute sketch and a 15 minute sketch. We will see what happens.

5 Minute Sketch

Start time: 4:26pm, End Time: 4:31pm

Colombia is a place of healing. The country in terms of both it’s land and people are recovering from a long period of self-consciousness and oppression from drug cartels, guerrilla warfare, and a rough economy. As it heals, there is a new-found excitement in what the country could be with love, care, and a little tourism. It makes sense that the country’s highly invested in tagline is something like: “a magical adventure. ” This isn’t just true for touristas, this is true for Colombianos, too. My guide today, on a bike art tour, mentioned that as a boy it was impossible to drive to the Carribean coastline because of severely dangerous countrysides. The lorax www.writemyessay4me.org during a lesson in reading and writing at the blue school, where children’s literacy lessons include exploring and rewriting scenes from the book. Now, he has the freedom to roam, and understand the extend of weather this arable land has to offer. It truly is a remarkable landscape. Dramatic. Comprehensive. From miles of coastline and islands, to snow-peaked mountains and live volcanoes. The magic seems to be like that of an unturned rock. There are so many worlds, ecosystems, plants, fauna, flora, and experiences under the rock. It’s just a matter of lifting it up. And as this country, literally is being lifted up, the magic being unearthed is vibrant.

10 Minute Sketch

Start Time 4:33 End Time 4:43

What’s really interesting to me about being in Colombia is how one country, so far removed from the United States can hold such an emotional power to make me over. Perhaps it’s part of the act of traveling alone. Or perhaps its the loneliness of not speaking the local language well, and having to consult yourself, your internal hero, for conversation—something that in our busy regular lives, we don’t give much time or consideration. Some of things that Colombia has taught me already, in 10 short day (or however long it’s been):

  • I want to learn Spanish with a Spanish teacher when I return to the United States
  • Almost all of “greater America” speaks Spanish. Not doing so is failing your home land.
  • I need to figure out how to travel for longer. 3 months is barely enough, ever. It’s now been three separate trips (Cuba, India, Colombia) and every time my brevity in the country keeps me from understanding the world beer, more deeply, more naturally.
  • I value my education, and it is the single most important factor for global acceptance, for power, for realizing a complete life.
  • Education is also what keeps the poor, poor. Or, to be more specific, the lack of education.
  • Reading books is a must. For all of life.
  • I will definitely return to South America next winter. Absolutely, 100%.
  • I want to return to Colombia: Cucoy, more of the sierra nevada mountain scape, la mojarra, a bike tour
  • I want to go to Argentina and all of Patagonia: Bariloche, everywhere.

Whew. Taking a breath. Another thing that Colombia has taught me is that I am beautiful. This is an important reminder. In Boulder I was beginning to have a leaky self-confidence faucet. I’ve had a lot of failed relationships, a failed relationship with my mom, a failed business (sort of), and a current job that is great and happy, but doesn’t press me to become a better person. This situation caused a little soddening mind. A little grey through my otherwise yellow. But in Colombia I am reminded that I am strong, that I can walk for miles. That I CAN figure out a crazy bus system in a different language in a city of 40 million while watching my passport, keeping one hand on my cash, and carrying 40 pounds of gear. It is possible. The world is a crazy, vibrant place. Have you seen it?

30 Minute Sketch

Start Time: 5:02 End Time: 5:32

To travel alone is simple. You pack a bag. Choose a flight. Grab your passport. And go. For most places, within 24 hours you are doing it. It’s easier than losing 5 pounds. There was a time, during my layover to Colombia, that I thought at canceling my trip. I thought about how hard it can be when traveling. The downtime at the airport. The lines. The constant worry about if and when you are going to have to pee, and where you’ll be able to find a bathroom. It’s easy to stay at home in comfort. To read books, to take adventures that are safe and you can perform well because you’re certain about so many other things. But what is living if not being one creature with the planet? Can you talk about the mosquitos in the Amazon? Do you know about the sunrise in Australia?

Colombia is in a state of healing. Its wounds are deep from decades of guerrilla warfare, drug cartels and crime and there is an apparent imprint in its culture. But within the last 12 years or so, political shifts and a rise in lower class self-expression have given rise to a new-found vitality and excitement about the possibilities that the country holds. The younger generations hold a love for the country and a patriotism that is powering a shift that is felt throughout Latin America. Colombia is growing stronger. You can’t ignore the energy. It’s too real. And it’s a lesson that we can learn from our Earthly pan-American neighbors. Colombians are filled with exuberance to be free to roam about their country and the neighborhoods in their cities without fear of being shot, mugged, or kidnapped. And now, they are exploring their homeland with resounding fervor. What are we doing in the United States? Are we looking to explore our sister homelands in developing countries in America? Are we galvanized by our privilege to speak the single most common International language, and the currency of gold? Or are we trapped by an unidentified barrier to keep us home, stable, content, saving. Where is the spirit? What would it take to find it? Years of culture imprisonment and a depletion of economic value? Would we find the urge to explore more only after our resources stripped? I hope not. I hope we privileged, white, English speaking, dollar or Euro holding citizens can find the spirit and the ability to pack a bag, book a flight, and land in a new place in the world. I implore you. Live. Someplace other than you bed, or your lovers bed, tonight. Where would you go?