I love continuous line drawings. I remember the exact day I fell in love with them - on a college field trip to the Medicine Hat Art Gallery in 1994. My little pee brain was set on fire by the idea that art could represent a thing, a moment and a feeling. Art could be simple. And simple could be beautiful.
It was one of the first times I remember feeling validated as an artist. Line drawing is capturing magic in quick moment. Because my technique is fast + gestural - in school it was often labelled as lazy. Messy. Careless. I was always encouraged to rework things, "to finish it" - to make things perfect and continue reworking things long after my own personal-interest had expired... I always felt it was stealing my heart from the work. But what I've learned over the years is this: I am gestural and loose. I am fervent and furious. I am reactive and I am okay with that. I work fast because it allows me to create without slipping into the quicksand of overthinking. It works for me. And line drawing represents the freedom of that discovery in my life. I respect and admire the artists the have technique and patience to work so beautifully... AND I am also comfortable recognizing my own strengths and feeding them. I am continuously learning.
I love the idea that one single line, like a piece of thread, could create an idea that was so delightfully fleeting that it could be unravelled to the very blank page it started from.
I simply love line drawings.
kalbarteski blind continuous line drawing from kal barteski on Vimeo.
(The music is by radiotimes - so good. Turn it up.)
When I do blind continuous line drawings - I don't lift my pen. I only use pen. I always finish what I start and I try to move as quickly as possible limiting myself to short intervals of time. Sometimes 10 seconds. Sometimes 30 seconds. Sometimes one minute. I don't worry about mistakes. I never start over. It's simply a moment. It can never be repeated and when it has passed - there's a new moment.
The video is a little skewed because I was balancing my iPhone on a coffee cup to shoot it. The moment.
Today: I'm heading to Pilot's kindergarten class to see if they can help me with something special. And then I'm drawing, painting and organizing my studio so that I can get down to business. October, November and December are going to be the hosts of a creative explosion in my studio.
GO!
