My sketchbook sits loosely on the top of the drawer, its pages hungry for some action. I've let it sit there for some weeks now as I immerse myself in all things foreign. Some artists work differently; they make their first impressions on the faithful pages of their sketchbook the moment they encounter the new. Their impulse to create provides them with the tools for discovering and making sense of their immediate surroundings. I am similar in this way; my work aids me in my explorations like a an anthropologist in an unfamiliar setting--though the setting is usually a very abstract place in my mind. What I do a little differently however, when encountering new terrain, is act like a bean that needs some soaking, before it either softens to a yummy consistency or begins to sprout new life. My sketchbook isn't with me while I soak. My art making momentum gets into gear a little later as I adjust and find my creative footing.Instead, it is my journal that is my soaking companion. It never leaves my side and seems to be my outlet of choice from the get-go. To me, both writing and drawing evoke the same cathartic qualities in documenting experience; but writing helps to ease in the first wave of processing, before I am even able to compose a picture with images interpreting my own words and insightful revelations. Reading text will trigger different patellar-like reflexes, while seeing and observing images may trigger another. This applies to me when using one or the other as my mode of communication; but together, they make for a very powerful narrative.
I relate to this very much. Sometimes I find you have an ability to put into word the emotions that I and some other artists can't seem to articulate for themselves. I realize that your writing here was strictly from your own relationship with the sketchbook, but your words are simply familiar.
ReplyDeletei'm glad it's familiar to you. it's awesome when my words resonate with fellow artists.
ReplyDeleteNice image. You changed it?
ReplyDelete