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The weeks whizz buy with alarming alacrity and here we are again at Life Drawing time! It was a much smaller group than last month and as always I found it interesting how the number of people and the character of people affects the atmosphere. This session had quite a calm, relaxed feel about it, with everyone quietly absorbed in their drawings.
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Before we began the session one of the topics of conversation was about drawing with your left hand (if you're right handed) and whether doing this allows you to connect on a spiritual level; we know that drawing with your non dominant hand requires different neural pathways to be accessed but is there a deeper (or higher) connection too? There was much scepticism but it was an interesting point and lead me down other avenues of thought. I often think that one of the advantages a drawing always has over a photograph is the very obvious physical human input, now of course that doesn't have to mean there is 'soul' in it but often that word comes up when describing drawings, particularly of people.
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As I was drawing I was pondering this spiritual link and whether I believed it or not and I was reminded of an online article I read fairly recently (I can't remember where) in which the author was explaining how a particular portrait embodied the fears and worries of the time it was produced in. In the comments section below there was quite a vitriolic discussion between those who agreed with the author and those who, to put it mildly, thought that a picture is a picture and to ascribe these other meanings was pretentious art speak. I should add that it was, certainly at first glance, a fairly standard portrait.
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I was reminded of this article particularly as I'd just done a rather shaky, uncertain drawing which was a bit unusual as normally my drawings of this sessions model tend to be quite bold and strong. The way I feel definitely impacts how I draw and I wondered whether the drawing was a reflection of something bigger than just my personal feelings as I din't feel particularly stressed or unhappy during the session. There is no doubt that we live in uncertain times and I began thinking about whether that was coming through in my drawing. Of course, it could just be that I was tired and so less sure in my drawing but I really do think that when you draw you put a bit of your inner self onto the page. You may not choose to call it soul but I do believe that a drawing, or any other piece of art, tells you not only about its subject but about its maker and consequently their life and times.
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