The Lowly Worm

Hello subscribers,

This is a drawing I did a couple of months ago:

I made this drawing in June but until now have struggled to write about it.

Usually, I enjoy writing newsletter posts about the background of a drawing or a comic. But for this one, writing about how it came about forces me to address the frustrations I've felt around drawing, and one of the rules I have always aspired to uphold in my art is to "never complain about how hard it is to make art". As I have touched on in newsletters throughout the last year, completing a traineeship and then working full-time really changed the amount of time I could spend making my own work. Of course, this shift is something I think about a lot, but I am loath to expand on it here - this is meant to be the place where I share my art, not where I ruminate on how I'd ideally love to make more. But I've never been able to stop what's going on in my life from creeping into my art, so I found myself wanting to capture this, too.

I became quite consciously aware of how it felt to sit down to draw for an hour before starting work/at the weekend, or scanning a drawing in my lunch break, or writing down ideas on a train, and then having to tear myself away. In the moment, I always felt annoyed and frustrated to make such insignificant process, like everything was taking longer than I could possibly bear. All of these steps I'm taking are so small, I thought. And yet, I am going somewhere.

It seemed natural to me to pair up this thought with some creatures that actually take very small steps (as they're actually normal-sized steps to them). As you can see above I briefly considered a scene involving some tiny shrews and frogs, but in the end I thought they'd look too big next to the insects. I'm not sure I nailed the relative sizes of everyone, nor am I convinced I got the leg placement exactly right on the ant, but hopefully it does the job!

After scanning the drawing I tried colouring it in, but it didn't feel right and I returned to the pencil original. All this, of course, over the course of several weeks. When it came to writing this post, I thought this, at least, would take less time - but it took me longer than expected to find the right words, proving the point of the drawing again. Finally sending this one out means I can begin the process all over on the next thing. It will almost definitely take me a lot of very small steps. But like a tiny ant travelling up a very tall tree, I am undaunted and determined, and I am not afraid to use my pincers if you stand in my way.

Take care,

L x

P.S.: The title of this blog is taken from the Poem The Waking by Theodore Roethke.

God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,   
And learn by going where I have to go.