Building Visual Vocabulary

As we draw our brain, informed by the eyes seeks a label of recognition- a shape, a form, a colour.

Then we file the labels, according to experience into neat preconceived expectations.

We predict the sea and sky is blue and clouds white. This is what life has taught us.

Yet in doing so we limit our growth and art. To truly observe is to activate the muscle of dissociation.

The challenge is to approach what we draw with curiosity, as if never encountered before.

In mark making, rather than the pressure of rendering a likeness, I learn to observe. Shapes, textures & component parts that make up the place. It’s problem solving really. 

How to express a deluge of rain or the force of the wind? Or the sound of a falling apple in an autumn orchard? Some of my favourite marks have come from drawing the sounds around me. To leave out the non-visual is to leave the sharing of an experience wanting.

The loops on this ceramic plaque are taken from drawings I did one Autumn. They emerged as I sat with my eyes closed, listening to the surrounding birdsong, kiddies laughter and the irregular thuds of apples dropping on the wet grass all around me. 

Now they are part of my visual vocabulary. The intertwined, draping loops frequently appear now when I am drawing or painting, and I love that I know where they came from.

Why not try it for yourself. Sit yourself down with paper and a couple of different markers - a soft pencil, charcoal, felt pen or ink pipette, anything you like.

Close your eyes and respond to the sounds and sensations surrounding you with marks on the paper. Use both hands. or just your non-dominant. Use your whole arm, from your shoulder to your wrist. Change position - sit, then stand. Time yourself if you like and do several.

After a while check that your marks are hitting the paper and keep going til you find some marks you enjoy.

Do things differently, mix it up and see what you get. there maybe a few marks you want to keep in your vocabulary. Happy hunting and let me know what you find. 

Want to know more about my practice? You might like the following blogs:

Six Creative Tips

Finding My Palette