Do you ever lose yourself in
creating pencil sketches and discover, when you "wake up," that you've drawn
objects or people or places that have personal meaning to you or ideas you've
been subconsciously toying with? Drawing sketches can be like writing in a
journal--the pages of your sketchbook are a reflection of your preoccupations
and thoughts.
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Londoño created a drawing every day based on his readings and visual reactions to them.
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Looking at our own sketches helps
us see what is going on in our own minds. Looking at other artists' sketchbooks
can be equally illuminating, because you are able to assess how their minds
work, how their pencil sketches translate into finished works of art, and what
preoccupied them when they were drawing sketches for themselves.
Colombian artist José Antonio Suárez
Londoño's
sketchbooks--or "yearbooks," as he calls them--are part of an ongoing project
that the artist has been working on since 1997. He creates a drawing a day
based on the book or series of books that he reads over a course of a year. The
drawings become visual repositories of how the readings impact the artist over
days, weeks, and months, and serve as the trace remains of his intellectual
explorations.
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Untitled by José Antonio Suárez
Londoño, lithograph, 2009,
14.5 x 9.5.
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As someone who loves both reading
and art, I can't think of a more fitting and powerful way of blending the two
interests. Londoño
allows what he reads and how he translates what he reads to become fuel for his
artistry. It just goes to show you how close inspiration is. We can use
everything we filter into our minds over the course of a day, or we can actively
engage with what we read or see to make work that bears the marks of our
intellectual pursuits.
A subscription to Drawing magazine can also inspire you to
let your inner world out. Artist profiles give insights into how other artists
work, and there are sketching lessons and essential drawing techniques in every
issue that are sure to spark or renew your interest in drawing. Enjoy your
subscription!
