Sylvia Plath: Drawings

First and foremost, Happy Holidays!  I hope all of you got to take a much needed break, spend time with friends and family, and binge-watch something on Netflix (House of Cards in my case - WHOA).  Unfortunately, I've been sick since my break started.. but the extra down time gave me an excuse to enjoy two of my Christmas presents: Beck's newest album Morning Phase (awesome), and a book I have been dying to read, Sylvia Plath: Drawings.  It's really unfair when one person is born with multiple talents, and Sylvia Plath is one of those people.  This book takes a look through her lesser-known talent as an artist, showcasing pen and ink drawings she made during her time at Cambridge, her honeymoon in France and Spain, and her return to the States.  It's really interesting to see these "snapshots" of her every-day life, from things as simple as what she ate for breakfast, to things as extravagent as Parisian rooftops.  But regardless of the subject, you can sense that she deeply cared about everything she drew.   Plath also described her joy of drawing pretty beautifully in a letter to her husband:

"I brought from my walk yesterday, a purple thistle and a dandelion cluster home with me, and drew them both in great and loving detail; I also did a rather bad drawing of a teapot and some chestnuts, but will improve with practice; it gives me such a sense of peace to draw; more than prayer, walks, anything.  I can close myself completely in the line, lose myself in it..."

I just felt like sharing some of them here because they really inspired me to take a closer look at the world around me.  She put so much time into these small details of her life, which gives these drawings more meaning than a simple photo.  They captured moments where she was fully immersed in her life, and that's something I want to work on personally.  So my New Year's resolution is to give myself more time to reflect.  It seems like an unattainable goal in today's society, but what's the point in life if you can't remember any of it?

England

Bull near Grantchester - 1957, pen and ink

Cambridge: a view of gables and chimney-pots - 1955, ink and wash

Horse Chestnuts - 1956, pen and ink

Purple Thistle - 1956, pen and ink

The Ubiquitous Umbrella - 1955-56, pen and ink

France

Curious French Cat - 1956, pen and ink

Paris rooftops - 1956, pen and ink

Ted Hughes (detail) - 1956, pen and ink

Spain

Bowl of Fruit - 1956, pen and ink

Stove - 1956, pen and ink

White Plaster Tenements on Cliffs over Fishing Bay - 1956, pen and ink

United States

Boat off Rock Harbour, Cape Cod - pen and ink

Study of a Seated Figure - 1957, pen and ink

The Pleasure of Odds and Ends - 1957, pen and ink

P.S. Her signature is perfect.