The Guardian makes a strong case for the importance of drawing. No arguments from me! Cavemen drew on the walls of caves, and people continue wanting to leave their mark. Painting might have been the star when I was in art school and sculpture might attract all the attention in Japan, but it is no secret that I love drawing! I love drawing on unusual media. I was blessed to have wonderful drawing professors who were not involved in school politics: Steve Gouthro, Alex Bruning, Sheila Butler, Diana Thorneycroft, Eleanor Bond, and many others around me who were passionate about drawing. They had very different styles and that was a good thing.

I missed figure drawing in Japan and was ecstatic when I finally found a class in Kitakyushu (southern Japan). My whole body came alive when the conté crayon scratched a line on the paper. I was told my lines “ran”. In Kanto, I have several choices ranging from drawing studio groups that new friends run and the monthly Dr. Sketchy sessions. I only wish that my figure studies were accepted as completed works of art, aside from the ones that friends have framed on their walls.

When I got fed up with the politics, travel distance, and pollutants of the printmaking studio, drawing was my salvation. I went back to what I remembered enjoying at school. The colours provide a nice contrast to the blacks, greys, and beiges around me. Toxic chemicals are few and far between. Pencils are portable. Little kids can believe that they can make magical pictures by drawing with something as lowly as a pencil that they already have at home. If people choose to then paint, that is okay with me, too. Drawing is still the backbone for that and any other medium.

Drawing is essential. Even the cats try their hands at it.

PS This why I can easily find the link to that article again! MZ