Adri's Palette

These past few days I’ve been in a real de-clutter and organization frenzy. Usually it is to just do something automatic, without much thinking. However, now I felt there was a real need for it because we will be repainting our home in the summer. And what better time to get rid of unnecessary items then before a major task like that? Now I have to be honest, things are going slower than I expected. Some things are easier to part with then others. My “maybe pile” is getting larger by the minute. But what keeps me going is the thought that maybe it will have a better, more loving home with somebody else.

And there comes the time during these therapeutic organization sessions when I get hold of something I haven!t seen for ages and I sit there bewildered and time just slips out of my hands. Case in point, I found the folder that has some of my oldest drawings. And here I mean old. From the Big Bang when I started drawing. I’m not referring to the  kindergarten scribbles (although my mom has recently found them. Thanks Mom!), rather the time when I started to put my ideas, my dreams on paper. It was really interesting to look back at them. So I thought I’d share some of them with you.

I distinctly remember this being my first drawing. I had this really intense feeling, as if I were standing at the edge of a cliff and the wind that was speeding up from below was hitting my face. This is how I managed to put it on paper.Once I had the drawing I became fascinated by the effect of the hair being blown by the wind. All I wanted was to draw that. I wanted to draw any situation, any instance where it could happen. I tried to draw myself as a kid, when we would play at the open air market by hanging upside down on the handrails.

Pretty quickly my figures improved, the situations in which these women found themselves more realistic. But what remained was that fascination with the wind, the hair and the long flowy dress. I just couldn’t get enough of it.

I had a good friend who went on a mission trip to Burkina Faso.  I remember I wanted to give her a present, a painting so she could remember our friendship. Now, this lady was obsessed (and I mean OBSESSED) with The Little Prince. And guess what she asked me to draw for her? You guessed it, a sheep! I was scared, because I never drew one. But at the same time angry, because I didn’t want to draw one. At the end I decided to take my hat off to Saint-Exupéry and draw the sheep. And if I may say so, it is the sheep of my life. I have never drawn one quite as handsome and quite as nice (insert winking emoji here)!