Background

We were asked to take a risk this week in our making. I thought a lot about what to do but couldn’t come up with anything. Then I attended a CSM online lecture on ‘Thinking through drawing’ which gave me the idea of doing a drawing in a way that is outside of my comfort zone. I haven’t done any drawing for a while so this is a good opportunity to rekindle with drawing.

METHOD

When drawing, I often obsess too much about getting it right and for this exercise, I want to rekindle with drawing but not to focus on getting it right. Hence I drew with my non dominant hand (left hand). I didn’t want to overthink or overplan so I just used the subject in front of me – my water bottle.

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REFLECTIONS

I haven’t done any still life drawing for a few years and I have never done one with my left hand so this was a new experience. I found I gripped the pencil very hard because it was difficult to control. The process of seeing, processing then translating into motion was more intense and much more deliberate than normal as is evidenced in the hard outline of the bottle. The outcome turned out better than I expected. However, what did I really learn? All I have done here was to try to replicate what I normally do with some struggle, rather than use the opportunity to discover something new.

METHOD (Part 2)

After feeling that I didn’t get too much out of the exercise, I did a second drawing. This time with my left hand again but my eyes closed. I.e. it was done from memory.

REFLECTIONS (Part 2)

The second drawing was a lot quicker than the first, took around 1/10 of the time. This is because I was trying too hard to process the ‘getting it right’ part in the first drawing. Whereas in the second drawing, I knew I wouldn’t get it right hence I was more liberated in just making marks. For me, the mark making in the second drawing was more confident where the first was hesitant. I like the second drawing and found it more interesting as an image.

LEARNING

I have been round this circle before where my mark making or brush strokes are more free and confident when I am not overthinking. This is not a new learning but yet another reminder of what I need to do. My last few pieces of work have been more detail oriented and I didn’t feel I could let-loose and be more liberated. I believe that to progress onto making more confident work, I need to find my equivalent of left-handed and eyes-closed in my making.

Next Steps

Do a painting that doesn’t matter to avoid overthinking. Try left handed and/or eyes closed for at least part of it, or to start with to get the composition going, then respond to it.