2.1.4 Learning to Copy Through Memory of the Body
Whilst I to Copy the Memory Body was working on joining up the dots on the christmas tree I suddenly felt the need to draw a horse for a family member of mine,which I did. I was very proud and happy that this worked almost independently. I drew the horse by using different paint brushes on my stick, for the eye I used a very fine paint brush, I used a thicker brush for the body. It was wonderful to be able to communicate through drawing what I felt but there was still a problem with the horse I had drew because I had drawn the horse on plastic. It turns out that the painting will start to fade away as time goes by as the acrylic paint can not bond to the plastic. I first thought to copy the picture with tracing paper but on what should I copy it on to, the problem I had was finding a black material that was large enough to trace the painting on to. Paper did not come in a big enough size, therefore I decided first if I could copy at all. I decided to research the best way to copy for myself. I found out that when I had drew a fantasy animal my body did not store the memory of this in order to draw it again, it was frustrating at first because I thought I could not copy at all.
Illustration 11 shows an example of a fantasy animal I tried to copy. For the picture of the half goat, half bird, I used a brush normally used for painting behind radiators. The brush has a long arm so I did not have to adapt it for my use and has a bend at the head to allow the brush to be horizontal when held upright. The brush gave a nice feathered structure when painting, it was very useful. The purpose of this drawing was to draw with different black and white layers on black paper because of this way of painting I could erase certain parts of the drawing that I did not want there anymore. This was a very useful method because it meant that mistakes were a thing of the past as I could correct anything I wanted at this point which gave me alot of courage to go on and master new skills.
I also drew different pictures of a swan as it one of my favourite animals, I feel free in the water myself because of the lack of gravity I can walk like any other person. Another reason I like the swan is that when the swan is born it is brown in color and only in later stages of life does it transform into a white color, therefore the swan is the symbol of transformation for me. Another advantage that the swan depicts for me is that she has full trust in the water that carries her, she goes with the flow without resistance even in a storm. I think the swan is an animal we can learn alot from and that I carry deep in my heart, I think the same of the horse as it loves everyone unconditionally and that was the answer to my ability to copy. If I love something deeply my body has a memory of its own and I can draw it without example.
As a child I was already very fond of horses, I was allowed to ride on a horse once a week as a form of therapy. After this period in my life I had no connection with horses for a very long time until I married and I learned that my sister in law looked after several horses for other people on her land and instantly my love for horses was rekindled again. I felt a very deep connection with these horses. They would take apples from me and let me stroke and pat them without pregadist, it was a memory I carried deep inside my soul. One day it turned out that one of the horses was ill and needed hospital treatment. At this moment I had just drew a picture of the white horse that was seriously ill. It made me wonder how far intuition can travel. I drew the horse in mid air at first without surroundings, a feeling of magic and wonder not of this earth therefore i wanted to give it roots because i feel to make all dreams come true you must stand firmly on the earth so that you can use all the power from it. The same is true for when you want to find a solution for something that you want to keep in order to show it to others, therfore I didn't give up and went on with my journey to find a material on which I could draw easily. The answer came when I saw a black cotton fabric that I could pull up and down on my drawing board. It was cheap and light and came in all sizes that I had wished for. I could finally create a horse completely from body memory with a powerful waterful next to it where dolphins could be seen diving from. It was wonderful to be so connected with nature and to discover that your body remembers this intuitively, something I share with Frida Kahlo.
