The Simplest Tools
- Tanya Torres
- Mar 12
- 1 min read
Today Mary Magdalene is playful, with a little color and a little gold. I was painting an oil painting and today’s drawing was quick but true. Since it looks a little cartoonish, or like a coloring book image, I decided to color with markers and pearlescent watercolor, and outline with micron pen. And pencil, of course, still underneath. I have a lot of materials to play with in my studio…
But the medium that really has helped me overcome my former 7-year stasis is simple pencil.
A box of ebony graphite pencils. An old sketch book. A kneaded eraser.
These are the simplest tools, the easiest, the most portable, the tools that do not allow excuses. Nothing to set up, nothing to put away. Because the pencils need constant sharpening, I also have a large electric pencil sharpener. And I just need to sit, open the book, grab a pencil and start. I erase a lot, sometimes on purpose, most times correcting. At this time of the night, I'm not at my best.
It doesn't matter. I still draw to keep a promise to myself, a promise to go beyond myself.
And as I draw, I think, pray, learn. It's a time for gathering myself and for connecting to something greater and beyond.
My muse, Mary Magdalene, is always present. She knows my soul. And she lets me be. It’s a process of reconstruction, and recognition: to explore the connection in all that is.
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