Frederick Franck’s guidelines for the creative life
These Ten Commandments on seeing/drawing were revealed to me on a mountain, but also in a meadow, on a beach and even in the subway. For their revelation did not come all at once, but in instalments, as it were, over the years, and always while I was busy drawing, and invariably on holy ground. But that may be because, while drawing, all ground is holy: unseparated from the Whole.- – – – Frederick Franck, The Awakened Eye
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1 – YOU SHALL DRAW EVERYTHING AND EVERY DAY
2 – YOU SHALL NOT WAIT FOR INSPIRATION, FOR IT COMES NOT WHILE YOU WAIT BUT WHILE YOU WORK
3 – YOU SHALL FORGET ALL YOU THINK YOU KNOW AND, EVEN MORE, ALL YOU HAVE BEEN TAUGHT
4 – YOU SHALL NOT ADORE YOUR GOOD DRAWINGS AND PROMPTLY FORGET YOUR BAD ONES
5 – YOU SHALL NOT DRAW WITH EXHIBITIONS IN MIND, NOR TO PLEASE ANY CRITIC BUT YOURSELF
6 – YOU SHALL TRUST NONE BUT YOUR OWN EYE, AND MAKE YOUR HAND FOLLOW IT
7 – YOU SHALL CONSIDER THE MOUSE YOU DRAW AS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE CONTENTS OF ALL THE MUSEUMS IN THE WORLD, FOR
8 – YOU SHALL LOVE THE TEN THOUSAND THINGS WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND A BLADE OF GRASS AS YOURSELF
9 – LET EACH DRAWING BE YOUR FIRST: A CELEBRATION OF THE EYE AWAKENED
10 – YOU SHALL NOT WORRY ABOUT “BEING OF YOUR TIME”, FOR YOU ARE YOUR TIME,
AND IT IS BRIEF
Also see:
Frederick Franck at the artisans’ gallery
The Awakened Eye
– Frederick Franck
the awakened eye 