One of the things I like most about a pocket sketchbook is
that, it's such a convenient way to explore the world through drawing. To use
our observational skills and record ideas.
In this small format I like to make quick sketches and
simplify, virtually creating thumbnail drawings where I filter what I need to
leave out and leave in to convey the subject.
Watercolors are a different way of thinking for me then oils,
they are much more spontaneous and erratic. I see painting with watercolor
as a type of controlled disaster, often you just have to let it do what it
wants, but then that is part of the fun.
I like to think of it as a drawing adventure and not get too
overcritical about them. Rather, to look at it as developing your vision and sit back and enjoy the process. In the end, everything you put in a sketchbook
is important because there are no mistakes, only lessons.
When you create a quick gesture sketch that has nice expressive and loose strokes which convey a sense of place, well that’s the big picture and
what really matters.
“The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.”
- Linus Pauling
Sketches are in a Moleskine Watercolor Notebook (3.5 x 5.5 inch)
Sketching is about thinking visually. I have always
believe it to be the path to a higher conscience of the world and should be
part of any education. All creative endeavors requires the ability to think
visually, whatever the occupation or field of interest one has,
drawing/sketching can help understand complex concepts simply.
From conceptualizing designs and ideas to just doodling,
there is great freedom in sketching. A piece of paper, a pencil and you, can be a transformational
experience. It is a connection with life that forms an immediate and intimate
dialogue with the subject. And yet sketching does not have be anything more than engaging our minds in play and fantasy, where we can enjoy the sheer pleasure
drawing brings to our psyche.
A while back my wife and I visited Alaska, a great
adventure with old friends now a much cherished memory. One of the highlights was
the trip to Denali National Park. After an amazing journey through the park we
stopped at the Eielson Visitor Center Denali that has a more than spectacular
view of the mountain. It was pointed out to us by people from the area
(sourdoughs) that this was an unusually clear day for viewing Mt. Denali. One
gentleman telling me he has lived there for twenty years and never saw the
Mountain so clearly. So as my compadres hiked around the area I settled down in
an isolated corner of the centers patio and began sketching this amazing vista
before me.
As I sat there in my little sketch spot one person after
another stepped up to the ledge of the patio and shot a picture with a cell
phone or camera. I sat there for about twenty minutes and not one person that
walked up and snap a pic stood there for more than a minute. I did get a lot of
sideway glazes as if to see what I was doing or if I had fallen down or something
worse. I wondered then if any of these people actually saw this magical scene. Quickly
snapping away, it was kind of as if that they had proof they were there but
really they were not. Funny how the sightseers out snapping pics inspires me
to paint outside more. Technology is good at giving us fast information but not at
telling us what important and significant.
With the sketch I
feel an immediate dialogue with the subject and a personal interaction. I feel
that with every drawing I learn something about the thing in front of me. I
have to think about not just how I am going to draw this thing but how it fits together.
There is so much to contemplate and consider. Drawing enables us to see more of the world around us and preserving those experiences this way makes them so
much richer.
The following are some of the materials I have been
gathering for a pair of studio commissions.
The idea is a seascape diptych that would be hung in a specific space in the patrons home, and these drawings are part of working out the compositional
concept. How the eye would travel from one panel to the next and how each
individual painting will stand on its own have been the concerns.
I want to have a clear concept of the the elements in
each panel. Where the sky planes are and the atmospheric perspective. What is in
the foreground and middle ground, and still understand the whole. The best way
for me to do that is to work out a series of thumbnails and sketches. Gathering
as much reference material as possible.
Not only am I working out the technical aspects, but also the mood, emotion and harmony of the paintings. Exactly what I am trying to “say” with these two paintings.
Graphite and white gouache on toned paper. 5.5 x 8.5 inches
The Pomona Natural Bridge is located in the Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois. It is a short downhill hike through a mature forest to the natural bridge. Made of sandstone the bridge is 90 feet long, 6 to 9 feet wide and 25 feet above a small stream.
It is one of those unique sketching location I have found in Southern Illinois, interestingly this
site was a popular tourist spot even in 1877 when the unknown artist's sketch below was drawn.
This month friends of ours in Alaska invited Linda and I up
for a grand Alaska adventure. This was a truly unprecedented opportunity to see
the real Alaska with good friends from a unique perspective, they had won the
Denali Road Lottery. Each September the Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska hosts a four-day event called the
"Road Lottery." During these four days, winners of the lottery
drawing are given a rare day-long permit, allowing winners to drive personal
vehicles the length of the 92-mile Denali Park Road. Routine travel in the park
with private autos is prohibited and with exception of the Road Lottery
visitors must use buses operated by a concessionaire to travel the park.
We started our grand Alaska adventure by visiting and
hiking the Matanuska Glacier and jumping on the Denali Highway for a 135 mile
journey along some of the most pristine and wild country anyone could image.
Denali Highway is lightly traveled, mostly gravel road with a posted speed
limit of 30 mph and is just a spectacular drive. Traveling this you get a real feel
for the wildness and immensity of Alaska, and ending at Denali National Park you're treated to “the Great One” Mount Denali.
A place to remind you of the vastness and grandeur in nature and take you on a transcendent journey into the sublime.
Mount Denali photographed at Reflection Pond in the
Wonder Lake
area within Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska (9/15/13).
"...in Wildness is the preservation of the world."
