Drawing Zen

Drawing is more than a means to an end for me. It also leads me to an internal gateway connecting to other facets of my psyche. I try to practice drawing for at least thirty minutes a day, sometimes more. I use the practice as a precursor to my paintings, but surrender to the painting process once the tipping point has been met. There is a large, sometimes undefined difference between the processes of drawing and painting. Both draw from the same creative well, but each rely on different characteristics and techniques to achieve a finished end.

I enjoy drawing the human figure, and it's relationship to it's immediate surroundings. I'll fill a blank page with many drawings turning the paper in all directions to fill it completely. I try to extract the essence of what I am looking at, simplifying the design as much as possible. I also do this as quickly as I possibly can. By drawing quickly, I am assuring simplification of my drawing. This has become ingrained into my creative drawing process over the years.

I draw, when possible, from live figures. But as I've gotten older, I enjoy drawing more from my ever expanding clip files. I collect all kinds of interesting images and cull them from everywhere and everything. These clip file images that I keep hold a dual purpose, also feeding the content of my paintings.

The practice of drawing also acts as a barometer for how I am feeling, emotionally and otherwise. If I am tense and/or stressed I can see it immediately. I can then observe, and feel myself becoming more centered as I continue to draw allowing the practiced creative process to take over. It's as natural as breathing, another good practice.

I draw with an ink pen, except when laying out a painting. I started using a pen instead of a pencil years ago because it helped with confidence and left the mistakes for me to look at and learn from.

My one favorite meaning that defines the word drawing is that of pulling one thing out of another. It's all in the head.