Newly published: Number-Symbolism in Words and Images – View now

What does leisure actually mean?

This is the first in a series of posts that, once or twice a month, will give you insight into my work.
In addition to contemplations on selected drawings that have already been published (I’m starting with the months), you will learn about what I’m working on at the moment and what motivates me.
I hope you will find it informative and exciting at the same time!

We begin with the beautiful summer month of July.

July, the month of leisure

Monatsbild Juli, Unikat - Der Juli bringt Muße.

Hand-signed art print with small original drawing,
Unique piece, 29.7 x 42 cm

For the July motif, I took my inspiration from Albrecht Dürer’s painting The Great Piece of Turf, created in 1503, which was the first to give a realistic portrayal of meadow plants, of wild herbs and grasses in all their beauty.

Das große Rasenstück von Albrecht Dürer

The Great Lawn’ by Albrecht Dürer
Wikipedia

Leisure means having free time and being able to dispose of it freely.
No frantic pace, no laborious work, no harnessing to the daily routine.
But also no ‘idleness’, which has a negative connotation and implies that we don’t quite know what to do with ourselves.

But instead, to let go, to put ourselves into a relaxed state and then perhaps to contemplate, that is, to practise ‘concentrated reflection’.
In this way, we do not run the risk of slipping into boredom or even apathy.

Contemplation does not require sitting still.
Simple activities, such as washing up, dusting etc. keep us alert and promote relaxation.

Most of all, I like to relax in the bathtub, where I love to imagine a picture I would like to draw.
What exactly do I want to express?
What is pushing its way through to the picture of its own accord?
Should I allow it?

During contemplation, our thoughts circle unconstrained around an object, a question, a particular topic. If they digress, the art consists in capturing them, in bringing them back and continuing to illuminate the subject from all sides until we find a solution or at least until an illumination takes place.
This sounds difficult now, but it can be enjoyable if we gradually become more adept at controlling and bringing our restless thoughts back into focus.

Contemplation is an artistic act, without which great confusion would reign in the spiritual world. In art, all there would then be are the purely emotionally driven outbursts of the particular artist (which, of course, also has a certain charm).

The image above arose during my contemplation on the essence of the month of July.


More posts from the series ‘Contemplations’: