Building Ourselves
Tag: humanity
Freedom Through Sketching and Painting
I love the freedom Sketching and Painting gives me.
One basically starts off with no image on canvas or paper. You might have an image in mind and then you set about creating it from your imagination or a memory, or indeed a combination of both.
If you are using a reference photo you already have a basic framework though, generally speaking and unless you are into Photo Realism, you will come up with an interpretation of the image at hand.
The Photographer has a scene before them. Certainly, (they can create an image in Photoshop from other images) but they don’t have to create shadows or the image when they are ‘live’ to a scene.’ Many scenes are already presented.
They choose the composition and begin shooting.
The Painter on the hand has to sketch/draw (mostly) the contents of the image, creating the effect of shadows, light, shape, texture and form with essentially 3 things, canvas, brush, pigment and a skilful hand.
Painting en Plein Air is the closest relation to Photography, I feel. Both the Painter and the Photographer have a scene in front of them and it is up to them what they distill from that scene, composition-wise to come up with an image.
The Photographer manipulates through camera, lens, lighting, angle, filter and later Photoshop or similar, using their imagination as well.
The Painter manipulates with their choice of canvas/paper, brush, pigment, line, angle, light and uses their imagination as well.
Back in the studio both can finish off their piece.
I’m not trying to say that Painting is better or is more creative than Photography though as each medium is irreplaceable. Painting cannot replace the immediacy of Photography. Photography can capture that ‘moment in time’ in less than a second, Painting cannot.
On a personal level, I have been photographing since the early 1980’s, although not as much these days. Sketching and Painting has certainly taken over, particularly in the last 2 years.
One of the things that I love about Sketching and Painting is the freedom it gives me and also the challenge of creating an image using basic tools.
In an article a while ago I wrote called, ’There Are No 36 Megapixel Brushes’ I wrote about how someone can take a photo with something as simple these days as a phone camera and, due to the technology available, come with a technically decent image. Composition/imagination is another story, however.
As a Sketcher/Painter, we cannot go out and buy a Brush and Pigment that will give us a technically brilliant sketch or painting.
Yes, there are electronic Sketching and Painting apps but you still have to have the technical and artistic skill to create the image.
I still love Photography but it takes up a different place in my life these days. Equipment-wise, I’m heading towards Mirror-less cameras and a high-end compact that I can take anywhere.
I’m thoroughly enjoying my journey in Sketching and Painting and I can see myself continuing this journey for many years to come.
Written by David Johnson
11 October 2020
What Lies Beyond
Under The Night Sky
Within These Walls
Earthly Rhythms
Your Imagination
Nourishing A Thought
A Pleasant Surprise!
Recently, I was thinking about which book to read next and I have decided that I would like to read some of the classic titles from yesteryear, by authors such as Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck and the like.
I was scanning my own bookshelves to see what I could find (in that vein) and came across a few such books by other authors.
In my travels I came across a Poetry book that was not with my Poetry collection. It was tucked away in the Biographical section and I must admit that I had forgotten all about it. It is now back in its rightful place.
The book in question is, ‘Quatrains of Omar Khayyam’ translated by E.H. Whinefeld. It is quite a small, thin book and in fact measures 10 cm high, 15 cm wide and 8 mm thick.
Omar Khayyam was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet who was born on 18 May 1048 and passed away on 4 December 1131.
What is a Quatrain? It is a stanza of four lines, especially one having alternate rhymes.
The Introduction goes for 26 pages with the balance of the book containing no less than 395 Quatrains and was printed in 1920.
I thoroughly enjoyed flipping through the pages this afternoon, sampling some of the poems. I’m sure I will be revisiting it again soon.
Written by David Johnson
23 August 2020
A Fine Writing Instrument
Communicating Creatively 