Drawing is such a broad term. When most people think of drawing, they think of highly accurate, rendered illustrative pieces, and bemoan the fact that they're no good at it. Or that they loved drawing as a child but stopped doing it when they realised they were dreadful at it. Such a shame. As a child you're not trying to draw a thing, you're DRAWING. Getting fully into the process of making a mark, and the making of the mark is the fun, no matter how it looks afterwards. Many drawing-based artists never lose that sensation.
In the studio/workshop/institution/discipline within which I operate, drawing is a very fluid thing, based more upon exploration and experimentation than upon likeness or accurateness. It is a process, a doing, rather than a means towards an end. The sort of work that emerges around me by the staff and students ranges from what people think a 'real' artist should be producing to things that few would readily identify as a drawing. Just look at the catalogue* for our recent alumni drawing show (which, if I may blow a trumpet out of my arse, I designed, to a very tight deadline) and you will see what I mean.
My own drawings can't really be termed a drawing 'practice'; I don't draw often enough. But I do draw, and when I do, I love it. I know that during this month I'll start tight and loosen up, as is my wont. I've also decided that if I miss a day, I'll fill the gap with an old drawing, just to keep the visual flow going.
Today I've had a long day, assessing students from two separate classes, then working on my own project, and then going to my bookbinding class and riding home through the rainy night on my bicycle. I'm stuffed. So my first humble offering is a working sketch from my bookbinding notebook:
I hope it will suffice.
(and for those of you who wanted to do this but missed the first day, join in! And let me know you're doing it so I can link to you on Drawmo)
*If you would like a paper copy of the catalogue, contact the friendly people at the ANU School of Art Gallery. We printed a thousand, and they're free. I'm sure you'd just have to pay the postage.
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