IN SITU TRANSPARENT DRAWING

It finally happened. I made an in situ transparent drawing in a cloister in northern Spain. In these pages I’ve been extolling the virtues, ad nauseam, of drawing from photographs on your phone. I’m sure that anyone will be surprised that I actually took time to sit outside and draw from the objects that were in front of me. Will miracles never cease.

I made the drawing above while on the second floor of a cloister gallery in Leon just as the sun was coming up. During our trip in northern Spain, I had been spending a lot of time in monastic cloister galleries. For example, regarding the bar in the cloister gallery in Santiago de Compostela, I tell you, there is nothing more sublime than spending happy hour watching the light slowly recede with only the sound of the light rain dripping onto the 400 year old pavers.

But I digress. This was breakfast, not happy hour.   And I had just about 30 minutes to get this drawing done, given how breakfast time then moved directly into checkout time. After which it was get on the road time. Macht schnell!

It is really fun to see thru real life objects so as to draw transparently. It is also really fun to draw in situ and not be all that worried about getting it right. Who really cares if one form is accurately depicted in front of another? That absolutely does not matter. It was a revelation to sit in the cloister and apply my transparent drawing principals and beliefs.

I also think it is funny that at the top of the drawing, I fell into the habit of drawing representationally.  The top of the drawing looks sorta like a quick travel watercolor is supposed to look.  While at the bottom of the drawing, I drew transparently.  I barely knew what I was doing.  So it is almost like you can see it slowing dawning on me (pardon the pun) that wow, you really can make in situ transparent drawings.

And because the drawing works harder because it is not representational, you learn more. I learned more. This opens a whole new realm for me. So much can be done with in situ transparent drawing.