Monday 11 March 2013

Time Wasting?



Most painters, or even sculptors, will tell you that they spend most of their time 'sketching'; not creating 'great works'. We scratch about with pens and pencils, recording the smallest and most unimportant of things, just in case they should come in handy at a later date.

Above is a good example. A quick-fire sketch that I came across in one of my books, that eventually got worked-up as a painting.



This VERY rough drawing (above) has yet to be used anywhere, but who knows! It may not appear in its entirety, but just the positioning of a window might find its way into some composition.



I hate to think how many sketchbooks I've filled with inconsequential drawings, but I consider every single line to have been worthwhile. Even the half-dozen lines of this sleeping dog might, one day, turn up in the corner of a much larger work.

Most painters protect their sketchbooks with their lives. They ARE their lives, and can never be replaced. But on account of their nature, you'll rarely be invited to look inside; they mean nothing to anyone other than the hand that made them.  
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10 comments:

  1. So true - my "sketchbook" is a Corsair Survivor 128gig waterproof/crush-proof/runaway-yak proof USB stick filled with Word files, most of them a couple of paragraphs, a few lines and sometimes just titles!

    At least I can just tuck it into a pocket...

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  2. H.I. - at her last exhibition - took out and framed some of her preparatory drawings or observational studies to sell, and very good they looked too - as yours do.

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  3. I like the dog too. It looks like a dog we had named Emmett. Does yours eat chickens too Cro? I bet you left that bit out of the picture on purpose.

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  4. Interesting to see how artists minds work - when I have seen other artists sketch books I find I often prefer the sketches to the finished painting.

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  5. Reading this post, a scenario came to mind. In a hundred or so years a decendent of yours comes across your etchings, sells them, makes a fortune, buys your neighbors property and knocks down the offending wall.

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  6. I wish I could do that! It's like a wonderful diary to me.

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  7. The narrow street - that looks complete to me. I'd put it up on a wall as it is.

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