Talking of things

I am looking at the screen. Letters in black get typed here. They make sense as sentences. Sentences which I read conform to the thought-vision. They are manifest forms of the abstract depth of my being. The other day I was looking up at the ceiling fan, and as it rolled, round went my own thoughts. I registered some of them in my mind, put them to memory. I type them here as I recall them. But not everything is from that recall. Some of the things are 'inspired', additives. (I may be accused of meddling with 'facts'. They are fabricated. But they seem truthful to me, the experiencing agency.)

I was thinking: as an artist, a painter, I have a continuity in my drawing. By continuity I mean that there is a logical growth over the years. Way back in '86, Gulam Sheikh had invited a British artist by the name Gillian Barlow to paint with us for a week. She had told us how she brought home her subjects from the outside, the streets and bazaars and fields, to her studio. And she painted them from recall.

I began drawing from then on with more emphasis on memory, and the recall factor. I would stress more on retaining an image and drawing from there.

Later I attended a workshop by a Dutch sculptor, whatshouldacallim, who said that there was no need of 'copying' what you are drawing. That furthered my cause as far as drawing was concerned. I began since then drawing with my eyes closed. Not always, but most of the drawing I do without looking.

The advantage is a more intimate sense of tectile-ness; they are more sensuous, a shade more uninhibited. Besides there is the element of surprise which more often pleases than otherwise.

***