Jennifer’s View: “I can only draw stick people”

By Jennifer Carrasco

“I can only draw stick people” 

When friends tell me that, I smile and say, “Its because you haven’t been taught how to draw”. (t’s also because you stopped trying at about 7 or 8, but I don’t say that because it might sound insulting.)

What happens is most people get caught up in the efficiency game at around 7, and admittedly, it IS more efficient to scrawl out a stick figure in a minute to illustrate a point. But it takes more time to really see. It’s also the age where people start worrying about other opinions, and are afraid that their drawing efforts are “not good enough”.

Up until about the 1940’s drawing was taught in the public schools. And almost every kid learned how to play an instrument, however indifferently, and it was usually the piano. Not everyone became a Rembrandt or a Duke Ellington or Vladimir Horowitz, but they could draw adequately and bang out tunes and read music. And we sang…some of us better than the others. I saw kids who “couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket” learn to sing after 8 years of singing the Mass and parochial school class singing lessons. In the 60’s and 70’s we young adults got together and sang. It was so much fun and even if it was “Kumbaya” and 3/4 of us didn’t play a “real” instrument, we could thrum a kazoo and raise our voices in song. Willie Nelson has a distinctive voice. Renee Fleming has a distinctive voice. They sang, and are still doing it.

I can teach anyone to draw. Not because I’m a genius teacher, but because it’s been part of my job and my practice for 60 years. The secret is a change in a perpetual mode….and like any skill from basketball lay ups to dancing en point…it takes practice and time.

Why bother learning to draw?  Because with drawing you learn to really SEE. It’s a slow, meditative act. You realize (again) that the world is miraculous. Drawing, singing, playing an instrument, and dancing, enlarge our knowledge of the world. Make it a private practice, if you feel self conscious. No one needs to see your drawings, or hear you sing. Sing in the shower. Take your guitar and play it in the garage.Take a ballet class. It’s a meditation and a profound pleasure in the midst of this crazy demanding world we humans have inflicted on ourselves.

Jennifer Carrasco is a longtime West Seattle resident and internationally recognized muralist whose work combines historical depth, mythic storytelling, and botanical elegance. With decades of experience painting large-scale trompe l’oeil and chinoiserie murals for clients ranging from Tommy Bahama to private collectors, she brings a distinctive Northwest voice to decorative arts. Her artistic journey has taken her from Peace Corps service and teaching in the Philippines to NEA residencies across the globe, and long ago she chose to make West Seattle her home.

You can reach her at Jennifer@carrascostudio.com