Today we looked at mark-making (our personal visual language), and observational drawing (how we see what is in front of us, are we seeing ‘correctly’?).
We explored our materials to see what kinds of marks they would make, and made lots of discoveries about how to express what we see using two dimensional impressions on our paper. It’s very exciting I think, to see what comes out of us with regard to mark-making, as it is a personal thing, and very unique to us, and is a way that we can then proceed with our drawings in an original and singular way. We can create drawings that are full of life and character, because they have a part of us in them.
We also made discoveries with regard to the differing drawing material themselves, as very often, each one behaves differently compared to the same item but in a different brand for example. It is alway good to explore any new art materials for ourselves, as there can be complex facts at play, such as age of the medium and different papers etc.
Then we began to explore ‘how we see’, noticing that sometimes we don’t see the reality of our subject matter, we see what our brain tells us, based on pre-conceived ideas and stored information obtained from a myriad of sources throughout our life. When we begin to draw what is in front of us, we have an opportunity to become aware of this. I am very pleased to see all the ‘continuous line drawings with non-dominant hand, whilst not looking at the paper’, well done everyone. Do this for literally just a few minutes before each drawing, and your observational drawing practice will really take off. This practice is not to be underestimated or brushed aside.
There is some beautiful work here, with some gorgeous marks and drawings. Very good!
