Drawing outside (III)
The project "A Paper / A Day" has almost reached its end, but I have felt in love with drawing small sketches outside and I suppose I will go on with that.
During the last weeks, I have been reflecting a lot about painting, drawing, figurative and abstract art. I like creating abstract works because I feel totally free and it is the natural way of expressing myself. Not having to look for a good spot and trying to represent as good as I can a building, a tree, a scene,... that is already there, but putting what I feel as a visual artist on canvas or paper.
Nevertheless, looking for a nice spot and finding it has its charm too! Working outside reserves you surprises that you would never live in the privacy of your studio.
Another positive side effect of my participation in this project is that I got to know the refreshing work of Natacha Dimovska and the organization Urban Sketchers.
Most of all, I am absolutely grateful to my translator colleague Valerij Tomarenko for showing me some (most black and white) drawings of Patricia Highsmith! (Yes, the author of the psychological thrillers!) I did not even know that she could draw...
Looking at her work, I came, again, to the conclusion that a drawing or a painting should not aim to be a photograph. It is no need to reproduce reality hundred per cent, is not beautiful because it looks exactly like the original, but because there is something of the author in it. In other words, perspective may be a bit forced, roofs and façades may be stylized, there may be more or less trees - the figurative artist also wants some freedom, sometimes.
During the last weeks, I have been reflecting a lot about painting, drawing, figurative and abstract art. I like creating abstract works because I feel totally free and it is the natural way of expressing myself. Not having to look for a good spot and trying to represent as good as I can a building, a tree, a scene,... that is already there, but putting what I feel as a visual artist on canvas or paper.
Nevertheless, looking for a nice spot and finding it has its charm too! Working outside reserves you surprises that you would never live in the privacy of your studio.
Another positive side effect of my participation in this project is that I got to know the refreshing work of Natacha Dimovska and the organization Urban Sketchers.
Most of all, I am absolutely grateful to my translator colleague Valerij Tomarenko for showing me some (most black and white) drawings of Patricia Highsmith! (Yes, the author of the psychological thrillers!) I did not even know that she could draw...
Looking at her work, I came, again, to the conclusion that a drawing or a painting should not aim to be a photograph. It is no need to reproduce reality hundred per cent, is not beautiful because it looks exactly like the original, but because there is something of the author in it. In other words, perspective may be a bit forced, roofs and façades may be stylized, there may be more or less trees - the figurative artist also wants some freedom, sometimes.
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