I began my Gallery Watching project this week, visiting Ruthin Craft Centre on Tuesday and Oriel Davies on Wednesday. They are both very contrasting spaces in which to draw – RCC is wide-open while OD more intimate and closed-in. The visitor demographic is also very different.
I worked hard in both. I had to. In RCC the visitors sped round or gathered in groups (the majority were women) and talked, in OD they mostly came alone, sometimes rushing through the exhibit and sometimes standing for a long time in front of a specific work. Some noticed me and smiled or spoke, others ignored or didn’t see me (though I was harder to overlook in OD). Some asked if I wanted them to stand still, two twin sisters actually stood still before asking me if they could move. An elderly woman pushing a walker commented, “So they still teach drawing in art school, do they?”
A marvellous-faced former teacher in OD stopped and asked me why I was painting the paintings and then proceeded to talk to me for over half an hour letting me draw him as he did. It was glorious. My hands were on fire. Then there were the two Welsh-harp playing poets and the woman with the kiss-curl quiff who enquired what I was doing and then proceeded to talk about the Welsh language.
And then two police officers came in, studying the artworks with real interest.
It’s been a revelation so far – not least for how exhausting live-responsive drawing can be. I’ve a long way to go. But the joy of it is what comes when one really lets go….
