“pure drawing is the material visibility of the invisible”

Alain Badiou

I spent time this summer (2022) trying to understand how to incorporate experiences, feelings, sounds into my drawing encounters with the landscape. I wanted the drawings to hold more – the observation not just dependant upon sight and preconceived notions of what a landscape of a place might look like. Sometimes it is hard to let go of formulaic responses, practiced marks and comfortable colours. I remember a workshop I attended in Tuscany 25 years ago when I made the mistake of saying ‘I hate cadmium red’ ! I was then put to work by tutor Sue Kennington to spend the afternoon working only with cadmium red and the most dysfunctional brush i could find. The resulting ‘drawings’ were amongst the most exciting things I did in the whole fortnight. I let go of expectation and let myself explore and feel sensations of brush and colour.

/