On drawing

I believe in drawing from life, so much so that I won’t do it any other way. It is the key reason that I seldom work on a piece beyond one sitting. Drawing is an intimate experience between me and the world that I can see, but it doesn’t stop there. Let’s say I’m doing a drawing of a couple of pipes, to take a completely novel and unlikely scenario as an example. I hold one in my hands, turning it in the light, noticing smoothness or texture through my fingers. The shape comes alive for me. When I set it down on a wood tabletop or a brick wall next to other objects, the qualities of light and shadow, and reflectivity, not just in the little view that makes it onto the paper but in the room or outdoors, all somehow translate into how I feel, and how I respond with a fistful of pencils or a box of crumbly pastels. Regardless of whether or not I’m able to accurately represent the profiles and relationships among the elements that make it onto paper, the experience is direct, intimate, and unique, rich in sensory information that is only available in the moment. And I’m not making a picture. Nor am I sketching. I’m recording an intense dialogue. It can get pretty emotional.

None of this is available if the source is a photograph. Photographs are already flattened, and it is only with skillful and sensitive shooting and processing that even a hint of what the photographer saw or felt can be conveyed though that medium. I love good photography, and consider it an art, but to use it as a shortcut or stand in for my own unfiltered experience seems to diminish both the power of the photo and the impact of my drawing. I only ever use it as a reference when I’m doing an illustration of a room or an object that I’m designing, when the actual material reality doesn’t yet exist.

I could easily ramble on. I’ll spare you the boredom and avoid insulting your intelligence with over emphasis, and I’ll stop here. Besides, I have a drawing to do.

Rad, Trever, Adam, Rad, Queen Charlotte and my ancient Sony Cybershot, 8 1/4 x 11 9/16, Prismacolor and 2B graphite pencils 

the same group plus three, with a few more objects, done eight hours later. A more detailed view can be seen under the "drawings" tab in the "pipes" gallery.

Comments

[Neill Roan]

Of the many reasons I love your work, the principal reason is the immediacy of it. There is a quality of intimacy that really comes across to me. I marvel at how you see and capture colors I don't see when I look at the same objects. I look afterwards and I see them there. It's a great thing.

No question that having your work emerge from direct experience adds impact. Thanks for all you do!