“As I develop a particular painting, I depart from a concept and reach instead into the demands of the canvas before me. What’s coming through is telling me I must go elsewhere. So while I might give the opening direction, the painting, as it progresses through my mind and body, determines its own journey to completion…. The artist has to have a dialog with what is being created.”
Helen Frankenthaler, Artist

The Drawing Is Always Right

More often than not, my drawings have a mind of their own, and take me to places I did not expect to go.

My job is to let them do this, follow their lead and go with them. I must be open to this part of the process, rather than fight it.

The drawing is usually, always right!

It knows where it wants to go. It knows where it should go. It has something it wants to say. But, as the artist, who initiated the drawing, I have something to say, as well. I have an idea of how I want to say it, and how the drawing should look in order to communicate what I want to say.

So, here we are. The drawing and me. I begin and the drawing starts talking back to me. It suggests. It urges. It gently nudges. I look. Observe. Listen. And, begin to make choices based on what the drawing is trying to tell me.

We fight, argue and compromise. But, mostly we go with the ebb and flow of each other. And, eventually we come out on the other side together.

Luckily, the drawing rarely looks like what I had envisioned in my head. It is usually, always better.

Best,

David

Santa Monica:
MIXED MEDIA FIGURE DRAWING WORKSHOPS

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