Image of the Week: The Tide Pool
© Durga Yael Bernhard
It's hard to overstate how important it is for an artist to draw. I've been carrying a sketchbook around since I was a teenager. Of the thousands of pencil sketches I've done, roughly half come from my imagination. The rest are drawn from life – such as this scene that I sketched last summer on the New England coast.
I remember going to figure drawing classes in college, and starting with one-minute "gesture drawings". The point was to loosen our lines, we art students were told – to simplify what we saw without thinking or planning. The models we drew held still – but children on a beach do not, even for a minute. A subject in motion must be drawn even more quickly – like a snapshot of a moment in life.
Gesture drawings are both liberating and challenging. There's no need for detail or accuracy, but capturing the essence of a figure isn't easy. To me, it's an opportunity to transform a subject into something else. A whole person can become a smooth arc that is first simplified, then exaggerated. To my great surprise, it remains recognizable! The human eye is capable of perceiving great subtlety. Most viewers would be able to tell all kinds of things about the girls in this sketch. The one on the right has a mere scribble for a foot, but it shows us how she's bounding through the water. The one in the center has only a dash for a hand, but the whole curve of her body is tense with anticipation. And the seagulls standing on the sand – mere scribbles – let us know there's solid ground in between the tide pool and the incoming waves beyond.
Ocean waves are especially elusive subjects. They have no defined edges, and gather and dissolve in a constant state of motion. Boats and rocks are easier – but even these present opportunities for interpretation.
There's no lack of subject matter out there! With a sketchbook in hand, all the world's a stage, and all the figures in it are players, with their entrances and exits . . . . it's all good.
D Yael Bernhard