2025 12 28 - Re-drawing

 

Eddy - graphite, pencil crayon, acrylic ink wash on paper - 9" x 12"

Finally I have been able to re-activate my drawing practice. We adopted Eddy at the end of June, just in time for my Mom's Celebration of Life on June 30. The combination of these two events distracted me from my own creative pursuits over the summer. Then, in the fall, I had household projects to take care of, causing further delay for getting to my drawings. 

Once enough time had gone by, I lost my focus on what I might draw, even if I were to sit down to make a try. 

Things have settled down now enough that I can conceive of making a drawing and I have started up a practice of putting something on paper everyday. This means that the day a drawing is started, I put the date on the page. Thereafter, as I add layers of graphite, pencil crayons and acrylic ink washes, the drawing evolves with each additional layer. The start date remains constant. The end date is unknown.

A key question was a daily obstacle to getting back to my drawing. "Why make a drawing?" 

This question has many unsatisfactory answers:

1. Because I am such a talented artist and anything I make is going to be valuable someday;
2. Because I am able to make pictures that are so attractive I will be able to sell what I make;
3. Because I have something important to say with my drawings and I am making an important contribution to public discourse through my art work.

However, I finally came up with answers that are eminently satisfying:

1. Because it feels good to challenge myself to make a drawing that speaks to me;
2. Because it feels good to focus on making a drawing and seeing how it turns out;
3. Because it calms my brain and centres my energy to spend time drawing;
4. Because I am curious to see what happens when I add the next layer;
5. Because I like to try all the different approaches to making and image:
1. Contour drawing
2. Implied line drawing
3. Structural drawing
4. Scribble drawing
5. Ink washes with brushes
6. Ink drawing with glass pen
7. Leaving the lightest area untouched
8. Adding depth with multiple layers and multiple colours
9. Figuring out what to do with the background
10. Pushing hard enough to make a difference but not too hard to make a distraction

The subjects for my drawings are close at hand. They are my dogs, the neighbour crows and cats, the odd squirrel, sometimes flowers, pears for still life. 

I am also starting up again with self portraits. These are a strange and deep drawing challenge, above and beyond familiar subjects from my day to day life. I will write more on self-portraiture as I get drawings up for discussion.

This drawing of Eddy is comprised of graphite and three shades of blue pencil crayon. The ink wash was made by dumping leftover washes together into one cup and adding water. It came out quite warm. 

My next layer will be three shades of red pencil crayon and then a cooler, lighter version of this wash. 

It does feel good to be drawing again, and even better to be writing about drawing. 

I guess if I have learned one thing from this return to drawing, it is this. It really doesn't matter what you draw, it only matters that you draw. The drawing you are working on now will tell you what drawing you are going to work on next. The drawings are drawing us, as much as we are drawing the drawings. The drawings exist where once there was no drawing. We exist in relation to the drawings we make and the drawings we keep and the drawings we hang on the wall.