Drawing for Understanding

Drawing for understanding March 9, 2012 Greetings! Drawings can be awkward things. The act of drawing may feel like bending a coat hanger around something. It's safe to say that too much drawing can destroy form and pattern. Fact is, paintings are best made of patches, not lines. But lines themselves are a way to understand those patches and the underlying forms. Beyond this, drawing is a beautiful thing in itself--often more lyrical and sensitive than the final works that follow. While often overburdened with clarity, drawings can also be mysterious, unfinished poems--the drawer explores and the observer completes. The preliminary drawings of two of Canada's top wildlife painters make this case. Glen Loates and Fen Lansdowne both used drawings as vehicles for exploration and understanding. We've put examples at the top of the current clickback. Artists can learn a great deal from these masterful drawings. Observed in the wild, flighty birds in particular train the eye to catch gesture at a glance. Further, the dynamics of wildlife movement and change of position need to be recorded in a few cursory lines. Having watched Fen Lansdowne sketching in the field, it seemed to me there's perhaps no subject that requires a defter eye. It's a matter of seeing life beneath the feathers. Turned on by Loates and Lansdowne, I've been using a three-step system that might also work for you. A couple of coats of grey gesso on stretched canvas give more opacity and remove a bit of annoying tooth. I draw with a regular graphite pencil or a chisel-sharpened 4B (General's Sketching Pencil). That's the first step. The second is to get comfortable. I like to lie down on a chaise lounge or relax in a big chair. Under a good light, this is where I take my time to shade, darken, and introduce gradations and other design elements. I "fix" the drawing (Krylon Crystal Clear, an acrylic coating) so things don't smudge. Thirdly, I put my effort on the studio easel and add acrylic colour to a chosen part. While I'm no Loates or Lansdowne, I have taken advantage of the smartly-tuxedoed Penguins of Patagonia. In all humility, my pinguinos had the decency not to fly away (because they couldn't) and are up for you to look at in the current clickback, too.  Best regards, Robert PS: "Open your eyes and draw. Look, look, look." (George Weymouth)  Esoterica: I can always tell a connoisseur at an art show when I see someone taking their time to look at top-notch drawing. Whether as a stand-alone art form or implied in a work of art, drawing separates the condors from the cuckoos. To be great art, drawing has to be greatly executed. Greatness, as I think I may have said before in these letters, takes time and patience. Getting your pencil around things, you begin to understand. Caressing with line, you begin to feel. Do it often, and you begin to love. "I sometimes think," said Vincent Van Gogh, "there is nothing so delightful as drawing." Current Clickback: "Scapegoat" looks at the popular human capacity for putting the blame onto someone else. Your further blaming will be appreciated. We also include the work of Glen Loates and Fen Lansdowne. Read this letter online and tell us about your experiences with drawing. Live comments are welcome. Direct, illustratable comments can be made at rgenn@saraphina.com Back by popular demand! One great big fat FREE book!! Yep, a totally free copy of Robert's most celebrated book, The Twice-Weekly LETTERS--960 pages--mailed post-free anywhere in the world, simply by signing up for a Premium Listing before March 31, 2012. If you have work you think the world should see, please check us out. While our listings are mini-websites in themselves, we are particularly good at sending volumes of visitors to websites you may already have. Our service costs $100 per year and we do all the set up, including changing work, etc, as you see fit. If you are thinking about it, please feel free to drop Robert a note. He'll be happy to pass along an opinion as to your work's suitableness. The Art Show Calendar: If you or your group has a show coming up, put an illustrated announcement on The Painter's Keys site. The longer it's up, the more people will see it. Your announcement will be shown until the last day of your show. The Workshop Calendar: Here is a selection of workshops and seminars laid out in chronological order that will stimulate, teach, mentor, take you to foreign lands or just down the street. Many of these workshops are recommended by Robert and friends. Incidentally, if you are planning a workshop and have photos of happy people working, feel free to send them to us and we'll include a selection in the workshops feature at no extra charge. The Painter's Post: Every day new material is going into this feature. Links to art info, ideas, inspiration and all kinds of creative fun can be found in this online arts aggregator. If a friend is trying to subscribe to the Twice-Weekly Letter via Constant Contact, please let her or him know that confirmation is required and to reply to Constant Contact's confirmation email. You can also follow Robert's valuable insights and see further feedback on Facebook and Twitter Featured Responses: Alternative to the instant Live Comments, Featured Responses are illustrated and edited for content. If you would like to submit your own for possible inclusion, please do so. Just click 'reply' on this letter or write to rgenn@saraphina.com