So next month is my 25th birthday, and I'm not really looking forward to it at all. I like 24. Being 24 suits me just fine. However, I did have a moment of realisation. I've been drawing pretty much as far back as I can remember, but when I left school at the age of 15 (bright eyed, eager and full naive optimism), that's when I started taking my art work 'seriously'. 10 years later, I'm a bitter, crusty husk of the person I used to be, however I thought it would be interesting to have a look back over that time and see how my work has progressed. It was quite an odd exercise to do.
Obviously not ALL of my art work is on this 'Collection'. There's too much of it, some has been damaged over time, some lost, some of it I just plain hate. It also noticed a dip in productivity during my University years (heh heh...). But here it is.
One of the things I tell my students is to not throw away their work. Even if they despise it and feel it's the worst thing they've ever created. And moments like these are the reason why. You have no idea how to progress as an artist if you can't see where you're going wrong. You need to hold on to the bad drawings and learn from them. Sometimes, they're more important than your good drawings. And, when you put it all together like this, you can see a level of progression in your work. I like to think there's one in mine.
Anyway, hopefully this will inspire someone, somewhere. Make a 'penny drop' or something. Oddly enough, this whole exercise made me feel a little happier about turning 25. It's made me curious to see what my work will be like in 10 more years.
Cheers!
A slightly higher resolution version can be found at
https://www.facebook.com/pages/David-Paget-Art/143957165698315?ref_type=bookmark
