Gesture drawing is the closest thing to meditation an artist can experience: it is drawing without thought, responding with the senses without making judgments. It is the purest form of observation, taking
the artist directly to the essence of the subject. It requires letting go and taking in the world as it is without any intention other than experiencing the subject. It is fun, relaxing and gives the artist a refreshed sense of renewal.
Here's one of thousands of gesture drawings from Rembrandt's sketches.
Sadly, Michelangelo burned most of his gesture drawings, but here's one that we're thankful he left
behind.
My gesture drawings live in my sketchbooks where nobody sees them unless I give permission for them to be seen. It's one of my favorite
ways of zoning out of brain chatter and external noise--my most effective way of meditating. I've clipped a couple of them to share with you here.
- If you don't have one already, buy yourself a hardbound sketchbook. (Hardbound makes it more special to you that those softbound ones.)
- Declare this as your private space that nobody else sees. (This is important because if you know somebody else will see what you do, you'll be more self-conscious.)
- Fill the first page with random, meaningless marks. (This breaks it in, takes away the newness and frees you up.)
- Now, fix your eyes on something within your sight and allow your pencil/pen to move rapidly, just letting it follow randomly, up and down, in and out, back and forth, being guided only by movement within whatever you are looking at. (Do this page after page whenever
you can. Let this be the place where you find your artistic freedom.)
- DO THIS WITHOUT THINKING! If you can't make your mind stop thinking, then focus it on your breathing while giving your pencil/pen freedom to explore. If you can't get it focused on your breathing, then hum a tune to yourself.
Here's a full page from me while watching the New York Philharmonic on TV on a New Year's Eve.
You can access the archive of all my newsletters at anytime by going HERE. |
|
|
|
