Why Draw and Sketch?

‘A drawing is the result of seeing. When I draw the tree, I am faced with a mystery. I must enter into this mystery or fail. Whatever I draw confronts me with the mystery of Being….It is more than just drawing pictures; it is a meditation-in-action on That Which Matters, a veritable breakthrough, an awakening from the years of non-seeing, from the coma of looking-at to first-hand seeing. It is as if the innocent eye of childhood is re-awakened through the unaided eye of the artist-within.’ (Frederick Francks, in Zen Seeing Zen Drawing.’

Sketching is a very important part of my art practice. Sometimes the sketches are tiny, sometimes they are quite scrappy and then, at other times they become very detailed. More often than not I sketch in pencil or charcoal, but every now and then I'll venture into a different medium - oil pastel, chalk pastel, ink, watercolour. Whatever the medium, the purpose is always the same - to better my understanding of what it is that I am looking at or thinking about working on.