Canton Artists Gone Expressive!

Saturday before last I had the pleasure of working with a number of artists down Canton way for a day of expressive drawing.  These artists easily experimented with design principles and easily worked in a non-objective mode.  We worked on collaborative drawings, going from easel to easel to consider one element or another.  By lunchtime our drawings were finished.  As we considered them during the break, there seemed to be 4 or 5 drawings that were a cut-above, those whose meanderings caught our eyes.  After the lunch break, we moved into drawing an autumn still life set up, while still holding onto the freedom that the morning had provided us.  There were so many good drawings, so many interesting drawings.  And yet I realize that in so many ways, the transition from non-objective work into reality-based work is not an easy one.  We are reluctant to prioritize the forms which greatly simplifies the work and allows the design elements to steer the way.  We are reluctant to break up line, or leave out a boundary altogether which allows viewers to actively participate in the viewing of the work.  We are reluctant to smear, to smudge and to wipe out.  We are reluctant to use our erasers as tools.  I guess that we are so programmed to add, add, add.  We need to remember that subtraction has its place as well in the balance of the work.  We often say too much when a little will do.

Our markings are not sacrosanct.  Our forms are not precious.  It is the meanderings that provide the thrill.

It's only a piece of paper.  What do we have to lose? 

Only ourselves.