“Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you've made sense of one small area.”
Nadine Gordimer
Murray was quoting Dorothy Parker last week--about her vision of writing (the process) and writing (the finished piece) which was intriguing for me to think about two things. Read a bit about what writers say about their work, their craft, their vision, their final opus. And then, see how it applies to illustration, graphic design, and how I speak to myself and to my world. Additionally, the quote he cited (which I dogged today and could not find) was all about the final work being important but how some of us wallow and thrill in the actual making/doing to get there. For me, it is the entire package--not just the thumbnailing to admire and then the final frozen moment of wonder when the illustration is done, and we can all admire it. I love the sharpening of the blue pencil, the loading my sailor brush pen with glorious, glorious Borealis black ink, the patting of the paper, the tracing and filling, the scanning and the correcting. The whole process is very happy, very relaxing and a form of meditation for me. It is me, talking to me...listening to the radiators hissing, Shady Grove scratching and enjoying the day as it is. Then, the pleasure is in the final work after the tweaking and cleaning, changing and modifying. So, I get a double dip. And, surprisingly, not everyone laps up every part of the illustration process. So artists create, plow through the making and enjoy the final piece. I cannot even begin to try to live in those shoes. The whole thing for me is so luscious and lovely, I cannot even begin to imagine the loss of pleasure in the doing just for a wonderful end piece.
What a wonderful thing Murray gave to us in citing that sharp witted Dorothy Parker and making me think. Another reason why he is so adoreable.