I
had kept a sketchbook, lugging it from class to class in high school but
the habit had lapsed when I acquired other duties and things to carry
and ran out of hands for the sketchbook. It dawned on me that I missed
the process. So a few years ago I picked up the technical pens and pen
and ink I had used for the earlier sketchbooks and creaked open the
cover of a new book - not knowing what direction it would take. I decided only one thing, to begin with: that I would continue working on each spread until it expressed a unified thought or theme - no matter how obscure. New pages were unnerving, at first. A sweep of line would break the page and then - ? I began to approach each page with the same general thought: Now let's see... and I was hooked.
I began to feel pulled by a work in progress, left on the table, pen beside the open book. Whatever the mind was chewing over, seems that was somehow being digested on paper. I began to savour the way a drawing developed slowly, dragging thoughts with it, developing a mental space internally as the drawing emerged on paper over days and weeks. Some drawings didn't seem worthy of further work - a doodle, the moment, not needing digesting or developing. Others were left unfinished for days or months - I had no idea what to do next with them - and may be in that state today, still waiting. Others, when I flipped open a page, suddenly I could see just what was needed next - and the pull returned.
I'll post them in the order that they appear in the sketchbooks, but undated - as they have grown over a hopscotch of timelines, some images surging to the page in a rush of hours drawn from a busy life in the course of a few days, others developing almost despite me, across years.
I enjoy comments and questions and look forward to hearing from you
Nice to meet you here again, Aino! Fishie-birdie or birdie-fishie creature is wonderful! I wanted to enlarge your drawing , however, I am not allowed to do so..."Your current account does not have access to view this page. ", told me Mr. Blogger.
ReplyDeleteI was not very consistent with keeping all my sketch- books, I have several of them and than and now I take a look and sometimes I find a drawing - unfinished- for reasons you mentioned in your post; and then - of hindsight you see clearly what was missing to finish it or ... to admit it was great choice not to develop it further :)
I am eager to see more your sketches..
Thanks, LT. Don't know why you can't open the larger image... ?? My sketchbooks are all a bit like this, the mind wanders and leaves a trail of ink behind. Your ink images have a similar feel, when I see them - draw me in to wonder what you were thinking, and then invite my thoughts to wander away all by themselves. Good to see you here. A
Deletewell, still, I can't open the image :( I can't get it bigger..
Delete(Also I noticed, when somebody leaves a comment on my blog I do not notification e- mail as before.... is Mr. Blogger teasing me????)
No you're right, something has changed - I can comment, and then when I try to log in to post it, the comment disappears. Did not happen in the past. So now I must comment, copy the comment, log in and repost the comment, then publish. Straaange... Want me to send you the image in a msg? Say the word, then you can inspect it at your leisure in any size you desire.
DeleteI am hooked by this post. Very interested in how this process will unfold! And like LT, I am entranced by the bird-fish (and its transparency).
ReplyDeleteThe bird-fish seems to represent the feeling of being out of one's element - or perhaps, not having any one element to call home?
ReplyDelete