Latest posts by michael wilson (see all)
- JORDAN RIVER - February 5, 2019
- Inspired Art - August 2, 2018
- Waiting for Inspiration - July 31, 2018
- The Bridge between Painting and Photography - July 31, 2018
The very first step in the creation of art is most often the simple sketch. When the drawing is efficient, perceptive, decisively created, then the drawing gives the piece a good chance of success. The purpose in drawing lies in the process of the discovery of essential form. It is suggested by a very well known art instructor, Nicolaides that drawing well comes only after several years of essential discovery. During those early years no attempt should be made at creating ‘nice drawings to show others’. These several formative years are about truly seeing and understanding form – even seeing within the form to its essential characteristic. No attempt should be made in making it pretty. The training has to do with responding to form with our multiple senses and learning how to honestly capture that response with simple graphite. Drawing then becomes simply a means of responding. The graphite pencil or chalk or conte become the basic tools.
We know that this long period of study eventually pays dividends. Through study and perception an artist slowly begins to truly see, even as a musician learns to hear the critical nuances of notes. Subtle shifts are noted, the softening of form can be delineated, followed and then drawn. As we mature as artists we draw more quickly yet with more effectiveness. Because we have learned to study and see, this ability to draw becomes the critical stepping stone to painting. We find that even though we draw on the canvas our idea, very quickly those lines are absorbed by paint. When this happens we begin to (in effect) draw with our paint brush. All that we had learned from drawing with graphite is now becoming dynamic. Paint is deepened and lightened to create depth and highlight.
The purpose in drawing must also be understood as the artists gateway to finding him or herself as an inner person. This realization of our inner self is what makes art such a potent and critical part of the human race. Drawing makes a way to realize the inherent character of the many forms around us. Our own interior space, our inner self is uplifted and transformed
by these realizations. When line drawing gives way to the fuller expression of painting with brush, we are more capable of expressing ourselves. Color becomes the key and second ingredient to the design itself. Color enhances everything. Color will attempt to overtake the design and smother the original conceptual drawing. Maturity is required to keep the two in tension and balance. Picasso did this brilliantly.
The spiritual aspect of drawing and of painting is undeniable though our understanding of the process seems to barely touch the surface. We know that as we absorb our full attention to the work at hand, the drawing in process, then we grow naturally in our understanding. It is this profound understanding that brings us to a more transformative state. Little by little we see more clearly. We grow up in our awareness…we become more skillful in responding.