Why sketch?

posted by Murray Dewhurst on
Some time ago I found an old wiro notebook in a drawer. A scruffy wiro bound notebook with a photo of 2 men in a kayak with a bear on the front cover. In that notebook I found terrible sketches drawn in pencil made while travelling in 1991.  One sketch leapt out at me. It was a rough pencil sketch of Mt Ararat from a backpacking trip to eastern Turkey. The sketch really surprised me – it was a very basic pencil sketch, drawn using a .5mm technical pencil on a cheap notepad. The sketch is just black and white… To my surprise the sounds and smells of the day came flooding back. Meeting some Kurdish goat herders and their flock near the base of Mt Ararat, about 10km from the Iranian border on a bright sunny but cool, alpine day. Along with memories of driving across the mountain steppe in an old Renault 19 and the smells of chai and coffee in a Doğubayazıt pasta solunu. It all came back come flooding back! Why did it evoke such vivid memories? I’m not really sure to be honest. Maybe t...
0

"Muuuuum, why wouldn't you do what I wanted you to do?"

posted by Murray Dewhurst on

One of the highlights of drawing or painting on location is the conversations you hear as people wander past. A small boy and his mum walked past holding hands when I heard this one. Often you hear a snip completely out of context of the conversation so it leaves you to use your imagination to make up the rest!

This is my revived sketch of the Mission Bay playground from a couple of Sundays back with @aucklandpleinairgroup. I left my sketchbook open and went to grab some coffees over the road. Sadly I returned to find someone’s cup of water had blown over on my sketchbook washing much of my underpainting off!

Regardless of it's people's strange conversations or water washing your painting away, you have to giggle!

Comments

Post a Comment