 |  |  A few of my sketches. Far left, line drawing; center, contour drawing, watercolor, and collage; right, a group of watercolor and acrylic sketches. |
There is nothing more motivating that gathering up a slew of ideas and hashing them out, and it seems to me that sketching of all kinds is one of the most intriguing ways to visualize those ideas in concrete form. Whether with ballpoint on cocktail napkin, on a tablet with a stylus or in a sketchbook with charcoal or paint, this useful and rewarding activity can be simultaneously rewarding, frustrating, entertaining and fruitful.
David Hockney has, in recent years, taken to sketching colorful compositions on his iPad, then sharing them with friends – his way, he says, of sharing his art for free, to anyone with access to email, anywhere in the world. The immediacy of his production and the ease of disseminating the work world-wide, is appealing and ultimately generous. Instead of a painting only accessible to the world’s wealthiest people and institutions, this form of art is truly available to anyone of his choosing.
Traditionally, sketching has been a method used to capture visual ideas quickly and efficiently, and, before the advent of the camera, to document one’s travels, day to day visual experiences, and to capture quick likenesses of people. With pen, pencil, conte or charcoal, these subjects can be recorded in a personal. portable book. This type of sketching can be done solo or in the company of others.
I have a pretty loose definition of my own sketching practices. I love to use multiple media, from the more traditional to the experimental. Collage, print, foils, tags, fabric scraps and myriad other odd and ends end up functioning as parts of pages in my sketchbooks. But I also love simple sketches created with a good pen and just a few economical lines. For someone with too many ideas and not as much time as I would like, sketches of all kinds are fundamental to capturing those otherwise fleeting inspirations.
Not all sketches are meant to become large works. Some are pretty perfect as they are. But some are the seed that will germinate into a much more ambitious work. And that is the ultimate transition.
David Hockney has, in recent years, taken to sketching colorful compositions on his iPad, then sharing them with friends – his way, he says, of sharing his art for free, to anyone with access to email, anywhere in the world. The immediacy of his production and the ease of disseminating the work world-wide, is appealing and ultimately generous. Instead of a painting only accessible to the world’s wealthiest people and institutions, this form of art is truly available to anyone of his choosing.
Traditionally, sketching has been a method used to capture visual ideas quickly and efficiently, and, before the advent of the camera, to document one’s travels, day to day visual experiences, and to capture quick likenesses of people. With pen, pencil, conte or charcoal, these subjects can be recorded in a personal. portable book. This type of sketching can be done solo or in the company of others.
I have a pretty loose definition of my own sketching practices. I love to use multiple media, from the more traditional to the experimental. Collage, print, foils, tags, fabric scraps and myriad other odd and ends end up functioning as parts of pages in my sketchbooks. But I also love simple sketches created with a good pen and just a few economical lines. For someone with too many ideas and not as much time as I would like, sketches of all kinds are fundamental to capturing those otherwise fleeting inspirations.
Not all sketches are meant to become large works. Some are pretty perfect as they are. But some are the seed that will germinate into a much more ambitious work. And that is the ultimate transition.
RSS Feed