“Each man had only one genuine vocation – to find the way to himself…. His task was to discover his own destiny – not an arbitrary one – and to live it out wholly and resolutely within himself. Everything else was only a would-be existence, an attempt at evasion, a flight back to the ideals of the masses, conformity and fear of one’s own inwardness.”
― Hermann Hesse
As I was trying to draw this student, who thankfully had his back to me, it made me nervous… nervous that he would just walk away, nervous that he would find out that I was attempting to draw him and nervous that someone would be watching me drawing him. Why does drawing people make me so nervous? Perhaps because I am a private person that does not like prying into other people’s lives? My mind kept going back to the question that Herman Hesse is asking… what is this young man’s destiny? What lies on the road ahead of him? Will he be happy? Famous? Have a hard life? A good life? No one knows… does he?
En dessinant cet élève, qui heureusement était de dos à moi, j’étais très nerveuse… nerveuse qu’il partirait tout d’un coup et que mon modèle ne serait plus là, peur qu’il s’aperçoive que j’étais en train de le dessiner, peur que quelqu’un d’autre me voit le dessiner… combien d’angoisses peuvent surgir en si peu de temps? Pourquoi est-ce que dessiner des personnes sur le vif m’angoisse tant? Un manque d’expérience peut-être? Étant une personne privée, je n’aime pas m’introduire dans la vie des gens. Mon esprit retournait aux mots de Herman Hesse… quelle est sa destinée à ce jeune homme? Quel sera le trajet de sa vie? Heureuse? Facile? Difficile? Personne le sait… le sait-il?
Paper: Moleskine Sketchbook
Fountain Pen: Pilot Prera F
Ink: Noodlers Lexington Gray
Colours: Prussian Blue, Raw Sienna and Burnt Sienna
Painting to see : Peindre pour voir 