Sketch Books and Observational Drawings

Drawing Matters!

I often use digital photography and digital sound recording as ways to help people to look and listen closely. But I am a great believer in the power of drawing to re-connect us with our selves and our world and focus in on something. Unfortunately many people were put off drawing at school and so people think that they can’t draw, if they don’t possess some innate talent then it is not worth pursuing. I try to live by example and  demonstrate how drawing is a skill that we can all learn and that can serve us well.

Drawing has always been an important practice for me, even though I use other media a lot too. But when I am left to my own devices either when I am on holiday or away from the usual demands of daily life I will usually pick up my sketch pad and some paints and can spend whole afternoons sketching and painting.

I see the result in terms of marks made that exist as a map of the time spent and a certain record of that process. 

As well as using drawing as a way to look, I also use it as a way to listen and as a way to work things out in advance of other practices like the Xi-Yie painting for instances. Then the process of looking, watching and drawing become studies for something more immediate as you work directly in the moment in this method of painting to ‘write down your heart’. 

Here are some examples of sketches and drawings from recent projects and life drawing classes.