The process in drawing is the THOUGHT-process. That’s where the excitement is.
There’s excitement in the finished painting, too, but that has to do with the effect the painter achieved.
When we love a drawing, we love it for the thought process that went into it. We feel that we are standing next to the artist as he or she is working it out. I don’t mean laboriously, tediously working out a series of syllogisms. What we’re witnessing is intense concentration where many variables and possibilities are instantly related and are coming into focus.
A lively drawing is full of abandoned possibilities, first takes that were superseded. Every shape is indicated, nothing is outlined. Even when the drawing is “finished,” it is a possible statement rather than a definitive one.
None of these words and phrases are adequate, none stand in one-to-one correspondence to the process.
Shown above, a student drawing that invites you into the thought process.
Drawing by Mary Shieldsmith, April 2022
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artamaze by Katherine Hilden 