PAINTING AND DRAWING

I like to think of putting a composing tool to paper, (such as a brush,  piece of chalk,  pencil, marker, or even a chunk of coal), as mark-making. Sitting down to make marks is a lot easier than sitting down to “draw” especially because I come from an academic art background based on theories, practice, and technical information.  All drawing and painting is mark making. We lay a watercolor wash over a page and the wide sash of color becomes our first mark. A portrait sketched in pencil is simply many marks placed in a fashion to replicate a face, strokes of pastel become a landscape, a still life, or an abstract image. Try this fun exercise; take out a sheet of paper and see how many different kinds of marks you can make. Try quick ones, diagonal ones, dark marks, broken line marks, marks that sway. That’s a good start. Keep going and make your mark. Soon you’ll have a drawing.