Image of the Week: Recent Drawings
Drawing is the lifeblood of the creative process. From sketchy trial-and-error to detailed studies, drawing keeps the artist's hand loose, the eye engaged, and the imagination flowing like this babbling brook.
Each drawing presents a mini-challenge. In the above composition, it was all about capturing the movement of the water. I had a choice to make as I sat by the side of the stream: should I look upstream, or downstream? I chose an upstream view, as it seemed it would be easier to articulate the little rivulets, chutes and swirls heading toward me. Interestingly, just the slightest suggestion of the road in the upper right helped create context, pulling the whole drawing together. Put your thumb over those scratchy lines, and the stream begins to look like a mass rising up vertically.
In this drawing, the challenge was to capture a likeness of this sleeping toddler. This sweet little boy didn't move for almost ten minutes while I stood in front of his stroller with my sketchbook. Here, too, I had a choice: should I stand directly in front of him, or draw his profile? After some deliberation I chose a 3/4 view, which enabled me to practice drawing facial features in a more voluminous way.
By contrast, this drawing is flat and conceptual, and all about expressing a feeling – that of sitting by my wood stove, enveloped in a dark winter night. I drew this on New Year's Eve. Something larger was permeating my awareness, enveloping me like a cloak and also moving through me – a visceral sense of the passage of time, elicited by the turn of the year.
Here's another image of solitude. Like many artists, I spend a lot of time alone. But the solitude shown here suggests the presence of people, family, or community approaching or surrounding this lone individual. You could call this a wish, or a prayer. This rough sketch could become the basis for a painting.
Like the rocks in that stream above, all these drawings are stepping stones. They lead beyond themselves to something more – more sketches, more refined concepts, more trial and error, more versions of an idea – and perhaps a future painting. Many drawings refuse to translate into color, becoming complicated or confused when pushed beyond their original graphic simplicity. Often I find this out by failing. Like little children, works of art have a mind of their own; too much control only stifles them.
Unlike children, you can always make another drawing, and put the recalcitrant one aside. : )
As shown in these four examples, I've always drawn both from life and from inner imaginings. Both approaches are endlessly rich. I'm blessed with the ability to move between the inner and outer worlds. I just wish I had more time to draw.
A good week to all!