Leaf of the Day: Bugs in the Paint #1 and Drawing

Today I did eventually get to Leu for the first of my new working-out-of-doors days resolution. The weather was kind, too hot really, and I did forget a few vital things but once you can get settled down, drawing outside is a lovely experience. You start to be a part of the landscape, (good and bad), and if you don't mind the odd wandering ant, and, as yesterday's quote said... bugs in the paint, it's rewarding. Why? Because you see much much more than you do from a flattened photograph. That is also good and bad because you have to make more decisions about what you paint, but then there is so much more to choose from.

So what are these? Well, drawings. But what for? At this stage I don't know. I would have to say they are explorations. Are they finished? I don't know that either. It depends on your point of view and if you like sketches or highly photographic work.

The first three were of a corner of the Home Garden with a white picket fence which has a nice cut-out pineapple motif.







For these last two I just turned to look in the other direction where there is a divide in the path. I like paths which don't have a visible start or finish. They have a story to tell.





A Few words about Drawing.
Sometimes its hard to explain what you are doing, when you are drawing. Some people want to be reassured you are doing something recognisable that they can identify with. That's only natural but drawing has lots of different functions for an artist. Here are some quotes which may explain why we do it and how important it is..

Artists make drawings for a variety of reasons: to capture ideas in momentary sketches; to plan works for other media; to assemble a storehouse of forms and techniques for future use and to create independent works of art. Some drawings of course fit onto more than one category"
A quick sketch generally conveys an immediacy and freshness by capturing the essence of the subject without embracing the need for detail. By contrast highly finished pieces can provide a greater complexity and a more extensive examination of the subject.
And what can you "read" in someones drawings?
It is like looking at handwriting. Here John Canaday the critic writes in 1964
In a drawing an artist is most likely to summarise with maximum expertness and economy, everything that he has decided about what he believes in...to give us at full strength but with minimum elaboration the essence of whatever he has to say... In another kind of drawing the artist is fighting things out with himself and is even more vulnerable but can be even more triumphant when his drawing is an arena for experimentation and decision. He is most isolated yet most exposed in a drawing since nothing else comes so purely from within or shows him to us more intimately.

Thats why we do it! I love to see peoples drawings and I love to draw! It is all that, working out problems, gathering information and helping you to look and see.
I do so wish drawings were more valued today.

Of course I did take some time to wander round the garden (procrastination) and found a delightful little kumquat tree with many many fallen fruit. I am now looking for kumquat recipes. ( more procrastination)....