DRAWING
Draw things that affect you...
Don’t pretend to be interested
in things that you are not
IN-DEPTH
I
n her 1927 storyStreetHaunting,
VirginiaWoolftakesthenarrator
fora walkthroughthewintry
streetsofLondonatdusktoshop
fora pencil.Theprotagonistwalks
andlooksandletsherselfbedrawn
intowhatshesees.Herimaginative
selfmeetsmemoryandhistoryand
makesanarcoftime,setagainst
contemporaryOxfordStreetandthe
RiverThames,“rougherandgrayer
thanremembered.”
I lovethesenseinthisstoryof
watchingthroughtime,andI imagine
myselfdrawinga linewiththepencil
thatWoolfhastuckedbehindherear
onherreturnfromthestationers.
Perhapsdrawingcanbesimilarto
Woolf’sideaof“streethaunting”–
a saunterofdiscovery,inhabitingthe
livesofothers.Whenweleaveour
day-to-dayactivitybehindtowalk,to
draw,“theshell-likecoveringwhich
oursoulshaveexcretedtohouse
themselves,tomakeforthemselvesa
shapedistinctfromothers,is broken,
andthereis leftofallthesewrinkles
androughnessesa centraloysterof
perceptiveness,anenormouseye.”
Drawingitselfis a kindof
empatheticstorytelling.Whatkindof
humannarrativeareweobserving?
Whatattentionis paidtolineand
mark,atmosphereandlight,to
setting?Perhapsthisis notthesort
ofstorythathasa lineartrajectory
- a beginning,middleandend.
Thebeautyofdrawingis thatyou
canplaywiththespaceofa page
anddisruptitssenseoftime.
Likemanyartistsoftheearly
20thcentury,Woolfunderstoodthat
breakingtherulesofnarrativeoften
comesoutofanexpressivenecessity.
Similarly,it canbesurprisingto
explorehowweperceivetimethrough
drawing.A lineinitselfrevealsa
narrative– thelinesofLouise
BourgeoisandVanGoghtellof
differentwaysofseeing.Nature,
too,hasanunderlyingpattern–
a narrativeofthelawsofscience.
Manyofthethingsweseearethe
repeatedformsofnature– thehair
atthecrownofa head,whichlooks
likea rose,whichlookslikea celestial
constellation.Wecandrawstories
acrosssubjects;everythingis
connected.
Imaginetheweatherandthetone
ofa drawing;theshadowsfromthe
lightsofthecity,slantedandvisceral;
themoodandthetime.Theshapeof
thegaze;thefactthattheeyemeets
bricksandlooksthroughglass.
Imaginethecharacterofyour
Walk
the
Line
Royal Drawing
School tutor SARAH
PICKSTONE leads
an exploration of
drawing’s capacity to
move – across time,
personal experience
and artistic modes
ABOVE Sarah
Pickstone, Disegno
after Angelica
Kauffman,
watercolour on
paper, 153x116cm
OPPOSITE PAGE
Sara Anstis, Sitting
Eating Crying, soft
pastel on paper,
76x63cm
Artists & Illustrators 51