Returning to Drawing.
I have recently been attending a drawing class, run by Sarah Saunders called Returning to Drawing. This is every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month from 7-9pm at Blank Space, Manchester.
For more details go to:
http://www.returningtodrawing.blogspot.com/
Sarah’s approach is really refreshing, and has invigorated my sketchbook work, which was one of my intentions in starting this blog in the first place. We have been rediscovering how to hold the pencil and make marks, trying out the movements and emphasis needed before we start on our ‘killer drawings’; a form of warming up and thinking physically about how we will achieve a drawing before we begin one. As an artist I have come to rely on taking photographs and doing quick pen sketches and lots writing in my sketchbooks. This brings me right back to looking and selecting objects, creating the illusion of depth, mark making and generally having some good clean FUN.
In recent weeks we have begun to discuss how we might use drawing to explore narratives and personal journeys and this really appeals to me. It fits into my current preoccupations with personal journeys in the contemporary urban landscape that I live and work in; how I make sense of the passage of time; and the repetitive cyclical patterns of life that have begun to emerge in my recent work such as River Text.
This current concentration on sketchbook work has prompted a reconsideration of my earlier sketch book work, from when I did my A levels (in the dark ages) through my foundation art course and degree. Interesting.
