My ACW funded project doesn’t begin until mid September but I’m still trying to uphold my resolution to make a drawing every day. It’s an up and down thing, and sometimes just a case of following the tracks. I’ve been trying visiting cafes and coffee shops to stop me getting too comfortable and safe (it is definitely people I want and need to draw). Each one demands something else, requiring another sort of looking, of watching.
I try not to get too formulaic but it is hard not to. I have my favourite tools (don’t we all?) that enable a kind of short-cutting.
And there’s always this asking of myself how – can I draw better, see better, feel better? Drawing seems like an act of compassion, of fellow-feeling. At least, that is how I see it, or am I being fanciful?
I watch them eating their breakfast, their lunch, drinking their coffees and teas. Some come in alone, others come as couples. Some talk, others consume in silence. What is it that I am doing, staring or looking? What is it I am really trying to do? Is it a case of standing in someone else’s shoes or merely curiosity?
And it’s not just about likeness capturing, not really. There’s something more I aim to trap, to put to paper, what is it? – a mood, a sense of being in a particular environment, a questioning as to why they go there, to that especial place? Is it because it is familiar, safe?
Do I respond to or answer some of these questions or none at all?
