Dorland, Day 26: Back to the Drawing Board

So today I started to really draw again, rather than sketching just to push on. It felt really good to break through that barrier of apathy that I'd been stuck behind for nearly 2 weeks. (See previous post: Dorland Update.)

I've been making drawings inspired by real desert animals. From horned lizards that can shoot blood from their eyes, to cacti that purposefully heat themselves to 140F, to wasps that hunt tarantulas and lay their eggs inside them... the desert is a crazy place. The natural mechanisms that animals and plants have developed for survival are pretty mind-blowing to me. So I've been sketching fantastical animals that are inspired by real ones here. Today it was nice to get back to the colored pencils and do a more finished drawing.

I only have a few days left and I'm really sad to go. I'm disappointed I don't have more time here to really get to work. But as I mentioned in my previous post, I do feel like I'm taking away so much from being in this hot, arid, harsh, and delicate environment. I'm leaving here totally obsessed with the desert landscape and I can't wait to come back.

A Walk ​

My eyes already touch the sunny hill,

going far ahead of the road I have begun.

So we are grasped by what we cannot grasp;

it has its inner light, even from a distance --

and changes us, even if we do not reach it,

into something else, which, hardly sensing it, we already are;

a gesture waves us on, answering our own wave . . .

but what we feel is the wind in our faces.

--- Rainer Maria Rilke