Seeing clearly…

Happy summer solstice and super moon!  I’ve been drawing pretty much every day lately… in a sketchbook I made from scratch!  I took a printmaking class with Jeff Dell a handful of years ago, and he taught us how to make coptic bound books.  I made the most glorious sketchbook.  That was the book I took with me when I spent a summer in Italy.  I’d camp out in piazzas and museums and galleries and draw the people and architecture and sculptures.  And I’d collect little pieces of trash that I’d find in the street (sometimes stooping down in excitement and saying out loud “Oh that’s a good one!”) to make collages.  I love that sketchbook!  I searched high and low for store bought sketchbooks for years after that, and nothing came close to satisfying me like making my own, with the most excellent paper and large pages and bound so it lays flat.  I recently organized my studio closet – actually converted it into an incredibly functional little workspace with my printers and rotatrim paper cutter – and I found my old book binding notes!  Those, along with a little help from google, and I felt confident enough to attempt a bookbinding project on my own.  So I promptly gathered binding materials and went to work!  And then I went to work again on these drawings!  Some of them are from observation of small sculptures I have at my house, and some are based on photos I took during my most recent trip to India.  The thing I love most about drawing from life is how it’s really more about seeing clearly, emptying the mind of assumptions and obstructions, and just looking closely.  Lines fall away into subtle shapes and shadows, negative spaces come alive, and relationships between all the little parts become clear.  The life drawing teacher I had at Pratt was the first who really taught me how to see clearly, and I think that – beyond all else – has made me into the photographer I am today, and to a large extent, the person I am.  Paraphrasing William James… The way a person sees the world is the great truth about him or her.  So it doesn’t surprise me that all this drawing I’m doing feels connected to something deeper, a spiritual task of sorts, and I’m really enjoying it as an extension of my daily practice as of late.  I plan to do some larger pieces in the next week or two which will also be an excellent occasion to finally attempt making time lapse video…