After staring meditatively at fish all day, as delightful as the koi pond is, still one wants a little action of the feet. Thus there’s nothing like a stroll in a garden. Over my morning tea I have found myself thinking ahead to life beyond the koi and feeling sure that another “series” of some sort is brewing. So I have revisited some garden drawings I’ve done in the past and have been trying my hand at some new ones. Also, having acquired of late a great enthusiasm for colored pencils, I’ve started making some little sketches of the Jerusalem artichokes blooming in the backyard. Well, I try to focus my attention on the flowers, but something about the little fir tree always steals the show.
You have to watch where your thoughts lead you — perhaps to a fir tree rather than to flowers. Sometimes you don’t know what the subject is. You just have to be willing to let the subject reveal itself.
I’m in that stage. I watch and let the garden talk. Sometimes one also lets the drawing talk. I might have cropped the drawing on the right and got rid of the empty white space. But for some reason I cannot specify, the empty space there is also part of the picture. I drew a few lines into it, and frankly those few sketchy scribbles seem as significant as any of the rest.
It’s a bit of a conundrum. But it’s also why we have sketchbooks.
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