✏️ September in Normandy
Drawing the same subject every day
📖 The Quote
‘I’ve done at least one drawing a day, often two, sometimes almost three. That’s an average of more than one a day. (…) I get a lot of energy from work, a lot of energy. It’s gorgeous everywhere I look.’ — David Hockney, ’Spring Cannot Be Cancelled’
✏️ The Sketch(es)
Step 1. Pick your subject and set yourself a timeframe.
The subject could be a building, a view, a tree or a special person. Give yourself some days and set up a routine around drawing your subject.
Step 2. Draw that same subject every day, at least once.
Get back to your subject every morning or evening. Observe the light conditions and how the colours change daily. Draw what you see and what you feel.
Step 3. Experiment, make every drawing different.
Try different colour palettes, techniques or media. Test different creative constraints, for example, painting light and shadow with complementary colours, using only a pencil or a pen, or drawing with a limited number of colours of the same hue.
💡 Some Thoughts
Drawing is a way of seeing. Going back to depicting the same subject is a way of getting to know the reality we are observing.
There is this fantastic sketch done by Jose Antonio Coderch of the site where he designed and built Casa Ugalde, where a bunch of circles and the triangular distances between them mark the constraints in which the house will meander. Some annotations indicate the quality of the views from the spaces that will inhabit the place. One can already sense these domestic spaces belonging in between the trees. I would argue this is, indeed, a sketch of the house (without the house) itself.
Drawing (and re-drawing) the existing site is the way to know the place where our designs and buildings will settle. Drawing the same subject regularly helps us look harder, with more intensity. As Hockney says, ‘after I’d drawn the grasses, I started seeing them.’
Iteration and repetition are excellent practices to overcome any creative block and improve our craft.
If you don’t know what to draw, or where to start, pick a subject and go back to it daily. You’ll be able to see the progress in your sketches as you’ll get to know the subject better and in more detail. Use this subject to iterate and explore different techniques.
🖼 The Artist
David Hockney drew and painted the Arrival of Spring in Normandy during the pandemic in 2020, using his iPad. This was not the first time that the artist painted his surroundings, or focused on nature as a subject (his works when in Bridlington are fantastic).
In the Normandy series, we see Hockney recurring to the same subjects, the same way a scientist gets back to their lab to perform their experiments daily. Some of these daily subjects (experiments - persistent questions on depicting the world) are the trees in constant change, the light when the sun rises or sets, water and rain falling, the colour green, and the house he lives in.
I strongly recommend his book ‘Spring Cannot Be Cancelled’. It’s a beautiful conversation with his friend and art critic Martin Gayford on looking, life, seasons, art, and the creative process. A narrative built in parallel to Hockney’s fantastic blooming pictures of Normandy.
Happy sketching! ✏️✨
Ana
Have you been sketching this week? It would be great to hear about it! Please, leave a comment and share your thoughts down below :)
Love the exercise and the reminder about the importance of iteration and repetition to develop our craft! Thanks for the inspiration Ana! :)