Starting Drawing 1

Part One Feeling, Memory and Imagination

Warm Up Temporary Drawings

I read through the first stage of Drawing 1, got together my materials, and bought a couple of large sketchbooks. I have been using small ones, so that I could carry them in my bag at all times, and because I have been a bit nervous about 'wasting' large sheets of paper by doing a rubbish drawing. 

So the first, warm up exercise, of doing temporary drawings in various ways, was a great way to get me into a better, more joyful and experimental state. 

This is a short film of me drawing circles of green
washing up liquid in a sink full of water. The line I was drawing showed up as
a moving wave in the surface of the water. I found myself
flinging it widely and smoothly, enjoying the free movement
of my arm and feeling like I was in kindergarten again.

Initially I felt a little silly and embarrassed at what I was doing, but quickly felt more playful and had ideas about what else might be fun, without my usual concern about how useful it would be.

This is what it looked like on still camera.
The presence of the water made the washing up liquid
sink and disperse very quickly. I tried it with
warm water, which made lines of tiny bubbles, both in the
water and in the air above it. It was only later that
I realised I could have done this exercise without the water!

This is a temporary drawing I made with wet woollen yarn.

 Some of these drawings were more temporary than others.

The grass was long and wet, so dragging a broom along it
gave a paler trail, like the line behind an aeroplane. I tried
to capture this on video but it was awkward to do both at once.
Then I made drawings with dead leaves.

I was surprised by how important the rhythm of the movement (or lack of it) seemed to be when I was flinging my arm around.