Drawing Your Own Path: 33 Practices at the Crossroads of Art and Meditation

by John F. Simon Jr.

Drawing Your Own Path is an account of how multi–media artist John Simon’s daily drawing discipline became a meditation practice, and how that meditation illuminated his creative source. A practical guidebook full of the Simon’s own art, Drawing Your Own Path offers meditators an alternative path to ‘just sitting’ and offers artists a way to mindfully examine and deepen the source of their creative ideas. Readers are guided through thirty–three meditation and drawing exercises, exploring concentrated looking, mindful sketching, and improvisational awareness, all designed to help practitioners discover the vast creativity within themselves and in their daily lives.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Drawing

194 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2016

About the author

John F. Simon, Jr. is one of the pioneers in the development of Software Art. His seminal work "Every Icon" was included in the 2000 Whitney Biennial. In October 2005 the Whitney Museum of American Art and Printed Matter published Simon’s artist’s book and software CD, Mobility Agents, and in 2011, Simon collaborated with Icelandic singer Björk to write an app for her album, Biophilia, the first app album ever created. Simon’s artworks can be found in the permanent collections of The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, Collezione Maramotti, The Brooklyn Museum, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art and The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others. John F. Simon, Jr. grew up in central Louisiana and studied Geology and Fine Art at Brown University. He went on to earn a Master’s of Science in Earth and Planetary Science at Washington University, and an MFA in Computer Art at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Simon currently lives and works in Sugar Loaf, New York.

Reviews

[Sarah Booth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meditation and Drawing

This artist set up exercises for like minded individuals to do in order to become more connected with their work and the universe. By adding the practice of mindfulness to your art, you expand and grow, seeing things in a new light that helps you evolve.
Interesting quotes by artist Paul Klee and others which add to the experience. A book that one might want to own to spend time with the exercises as opposed to just borrowing from the library for a quick read.
The idea of a daily drawing practice appeals to me, now I need to make the time for it.

[Patrick Hanlon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The dilemma of lending or re-reading. A great book on creativity and meditation told by a person with a background in drawing and software design, an unusual combination of background that informs the book quite deeply.

The activities that he discusses can easily be done by a non-drawer and there are some that can be adapted to other media as well. Simon's insight on his process and his block, not to mention the ongoing connection with his art and the challenges that he faces in pursuing it is a revelation. Whether you are looking to improve your work with pencil and paper or want to adapt your approach to drawing to reveal some issues you find yourself working through, it is a valuable read full of plenty of resources to consider as well.

[Robyn]

Skimmed. Contains a set of 33 practices which encompass attentive looking, meditation, mark making, drawing, storytelling, sharing one's work and more.

A few of the more basic practices...
#11 : The circular arrow -- a visual mantra
#14 : All four pixel images // Only 16 arrangements are possible in a four pixel square.
#16 : Going outside the box // Only draw straight lines within a 4-inch square.

p. 68-71 : discusses Sol LeWitt's conceptual art, along with author's Every Icon program

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book with with amazing ideas for projects and thinking beyond those projects. I'll need to read it several more times and practice the exercises suggested for it all to really sink in.