I can’t really help it. I need to do something with my hands. So when I’m in a meeting or relaxing in front of the TV and there happens to be paper and a pen or pencil in the near vicinity I inevitably will start drawing. Nothing in particular, though I’m prone to suns and moons and lips.

This past December I decided to start putting this nervous habit to good use. Initially using just pencil, I started concocting crazy images filled with disparate patterns and aimed for nothing really, just a bunch of stuff on a page filling in the spaces of random outlines. The results were quite interesting.

Some took on anthropomorphic meanings. Some looked playful, some ominous. Soon I added color and a new line of expression for me was born.

I’ve haven’t worked in any kind of abstract form for many, many years but I’m finding this a welcome counterpoint to my exacting realism. What fun it is to draw snakelike forms emerging out of and through holes in the universe. And I can indulge my instinct to grab for the brightest green and the most saturated turquoise! It’s fun and freeing.

I’ve taken a leap of faith and included them in a submission to a local art center’s members’ exhibition this winter. When I dropped them off one of the director’s remarked. “I didn’t know you did these!”

I replied,” I didn’t either!” And now I do.

Drawing: Sillium © Lissa Banks 2018