Lynda Barry: Doodle Your Way Out Of Writer’s Block

I was Amening all over this 30 minute Lynda Barry interview with Neal Conan on Talk of the Nation, November 11, 2010. Always happy to hear more and more folks talking about the importance of drawing and moving in our lives. We’re physical, kinesthetic beings living this wierdo world experiencing it through devices, screens, lens that abstract and flatten our experiences.

In her new book, Picture This: The Near-sighted Monkey Book, Lynda Barry drew the near-sighted monkey and the meditative monkey and told us about how drawing those characters brought her solace through tough times. I could completely relate. Right after my Mom’s death in October 2009, I went into “craft therapy” mode making ornaments. As Barry says, when you move your hand with an object in it, the story starts to come.

Take a listen. Doodle. Move.

p.s. I started this drawing with the subject sticking out her tongue. When Barry mentions the tongue/thumb connection I laughed. I was that kid always drawing very seriously, often with tongue sticking out.

p.p.s. I normally crop my photos to remove the edges of the sketchbook or the edges of paper, tape, walls. Since this is about the physical, tangible, I left it in.

Do I need 2 more holes in my ears? I’m thinking of piercing my ears for the first time. These gorgeous earrings on Etsy inches me closer to an affirmative decision.

I had a wonderful time at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh seeing an installation of his Silver Clouds. Excited that there’s a new installation of it at IIT’s Crown Hall. If you’re in Chicago before August 1st, see it. More from Time Out Chicago

The piece is brilliantly simple. Rectangular, helium-filled mylar balloons in a space. Fresh clouds are at the ceiling, older ones drift and float. The reflective surfaces make the viewer view in new ways. My favorite moment was when a cloud gently bumped into me. The art bumped into me. I was tickled by that.

Andrew’s photo of the constrained clouds knocks my socks off.

I like the horizontality. Horizontal-ness? I love the ambiguity Andrew comments on - “Not sure if they were pre- or post-display” I think they are post-, but I like the idea that they are pre-. The potential. And it’s a great, unexpected perspective, behind the scenes.