SWITCHING IT UP

Henri Cartier-Bresson once said photography is an immediate reaction, drawing is a meditation.

Printmaking (my main portfolio) is all about planning; sketch, transfer to a block . . . where to cut, what to leave. Proofs and revisions. Cut some more.

Recently, I have been focusing on a drawing practice; to explore a more immediate process and remain in the present, resulting in personal images that develop in a more organic way.

This was a winter drawing, made in January, a couple of years ago for Squirrel Appreciation Day. Yeah I know, it's hard to do sometimes!

Drawn from observation while they raided my bird feeder, there are a lot of stops and starts buried in the background.  My motto is "stay loose, just keep working" and pretty soon you'll get the forms to "take shape." Scribble over anything you don't like.  Watch for shapes and forms in these scribbles - not unlike what we sometimes do with clouds.  Enhance them.  Come back to them later, scribble some more.  After a couple of hours of this, you start to love 'em, (maybe), but you'll sure know a lot more about them.

As part of this practice, I have been facilitating a monthly workshop called DRAWING WORKBOOK, at www.inkyeditions.com, sharing some of these ideas & strategies. It's really rewarding to draw with a group and collaborate, reflect and process with others.
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