An artist cannot fail; it is a sucess to be one.

Skeleton drawing, Pen & Ink on paper, 16.5 x 11.7 inches (2012)

Salvador Dali

“Untitled” 2011, Pen and Ink Drawing

My friend, Tim, set me a challenge of drawing him something I’d never attempted  before. To make the task seem even more daunting I had to fabricate the drawing using only a small plastic model as reference. I remember thinking is there is no way in hell I’m going to be able to pull this off!!

In the past, I’d always avoided drawing things with minute detail and every attempt I made at anything vaguely humanoid had always resulted incomplete failure. Every mark I made was deliberated over and sometimes practised on scrap paper. The pressure on me mounted…! This was not something done for my pleasure which could be binned if it really didn’t work out. This was for somebody else and I really didn’t want to screw it up. Half of the challenge of completing this piece overcoming my own pessimistic outlook. I was so sure that it was going to look fail and essentially look shit in comparison to my other drawings.

Sixteen tentative hours later, the drawing was finished. As I looked upon the thing that had initially filled me with a sense of fear and dread, I now saw it completely differently. A sense of pride swelled in me… “Untitled” 2011 was one of my greatest achievements to date. Within it is all the knowledge absorbed from previous mistakes. Looking back at older work I can see how my pen strokes and shading technique has improved….and I finally conquered the hap-hazard way I used to attempt to draw flesh..!

Bobby Byrd

Frank Auerbach(1990) Recent Work. Balding & Mansell, International Limited, England

I am drawing and a mistake occurs. I paw at it trying to make it disappear but it’s not enough. I fetch the rubber as it touches the paper I rub furiously…backwards, forwards and side to side. Slowly the paper starts coming away - flaking and thinning. When I stop the error is gone replaced by an area of fragile paper- so thin that if my sharpened pencil touched it, it would tear. This cannot be fixed; I must start again- opening myself up to the chance of success or the familiar territory of failure.

I’ve managed to MAJORLY screw up….three hours into a drawing that I thought I couldn’t get much better. Then it comes to me that I have picked up the wrong paper and the ink is bleeding everywhere - then in my panic ink drips from my pen onto a place it’s not meant to be. And now I have to invest another three hours getting back to that point with the right paper. I think failure comes naturally to me and I’m becoming a little to good at it…..