TWO WASH

And now for something completely different.  What are the minimum number of washes that you can use and still evoke space and enclosure?

I set off in this new direction as the result of having an urge to show infinite space on the drawing I was starting.  I really have no idea what that even means.  But that thought led me to ask, what is the least I can do and still achieve transparency?

The answer seems to be two.

There is a great simplicity to limit yourself to just two washes.  You wet the brush and apply a wash, let it dry, repeat, and that’s it.

This has a resonance with the Japanese Zen tradition of ensõ, in which a circle is drawn with one or two brush strokes.  This tradition symbolizes enlightenment, strength and the universe.  Of course, the result is always remedially opaque.

I have included these two drawings as they were the most interesting of the many I have done so far.  Certainly the Two Wash Drawing is a concept that has great expansive potential.  If an entire cultural heritage can be centered around drawing an opaque circle, we could spend the rest of our lives developing the Two Wash Drawing as we work toward the transparent variety of enlightenment.

Sounds like another Transparent Drawing Spin Off Project to me.

And you might say, well, why not one wash?  The problem there is simply drying time.  By the time you start at one spot on your paper, and then take the wash all the way around to where you started, the wash has not had sufficient time to dry to reveal overlap.  At least that is true for the 5×8 format I work on.  Of course, if you did this on a larger piece of paper, the wash would have time to dry by the time you got back around.  Again, more things to do.