Year’s ago I read a book called ‘On Not Being Able to Paint’. The author was Marion Milner, a
clinical psychologist who was also a keen painter. All I can remember was her
advocating an exercise aimed at suppressing logical ways of observing and allowing
emotional responses to take control. To do this she advocated relaxing into a
state of reverie and allowing the hand to make marks. She claimed that the results could be quite
surprising. Sitting comfortably on a warm summer day in front of fine view
could sometimes result in vigorous mark making that suggested a violent storm.
From time to time I try this method and adapt it to making marks
which don’t represent anything other than being what the eye likes. I like to
use a medium like soft pencil or Charcoal which can be used to exploit a range
of design elements notably Line, Tone, and Texture. One of Picasso’s artistic
objectives was to ‘realise forms’ and
once a form is realised it is there to lead a life of its own.
Here are two examples which don’t represent anything other
than forms. They’re what my eye likes but they may not appeal to anybody else.
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