23 February: Practice & Science of Drawing

Please see the 2021 UPDATED version of this journal entry HERE.

2/23/2020 Starting The Practice & Science of Drawing

Early sketch for She Rises by Tia Sunshine Art

Early sketch for She Rises by Tia Sunshine Art

Today’s reading from The Practice & Science of Drawing by Harold Speed.

The position of art today is like that of a river where many tributaries meeting at one point, suddenly turn the steady flow to turbulence, the many streams jostling each other and the different currents pulling hither and thither.

After a time these newly-met forces will adjust themselves to the altered condition, and a larger, finer stream will be the result. … The hope of the future is that a larger and deeper art, answering to the altered conditions of humanity, will result.

Progress, not perfection. This is true in both artistic practice & culture.

New ideas tumble around together, disrupting the comfortable, tossing everyone through a whitewater ride of fractures and cooperation till they once again reach still water and have to make the choice to float comfortably or dig the paddle into the depths and push towards the next challenge.

That is life and art.

Today I have been adding details to my upcoming artwork, She Rises. I am using Windsor & Newton Permanent Rose and Windsor Blue (red shade) to create folds of fabric that are meant to look like both a gown and the shadow of purple mountains. I did some planning, but even my planning was very intuitive. That is what Speed’s book has been about. Finding that balance in form between structure and intuition.

Great things are only done in art when the creative instinct of the artist has a well-organized executive faculty at its disposal.

Send me an email at hello@tiasunshine.art or comment on my Instagram or Facebook Page.

~ Tia Sunshine

Today’s Resources 2020: