Start a collection
Kristina’s response to this post made me think of how most people of an artistic bent seem to collect things. Maybe it’s something to do with perceiving things visually: you are drawn to possess the things you see, to line them all up at once and compare them. Or maybe it’s simpler than that - artists are just in the habit of squirrelling stuff away as inspiration to use later.
Art tutors I have known have certainly shown this trait. One used to collect not just model trees, but anything small that looked like a tree, so, say, a small green wire brush, or a conical green pencil sharpener. Another, Graham Rawle, told us that he’d pick up any playing card he saw out on the street. Apparently, once you start looking, you see them everywhere. His aim was to collect an entire pack.
The first tutor I mention did actually produce a drawing which referenced his collection of trees, though it seems like a lot of effort for one picture. As for the playing cards, well, that strikes me as more of a game to make life more interesting than an actual artistic pursuit, although of course you could document it obsessively and produce a fun exhibition out of it. As it happens, Rawle is a cut-and-paste (in the old, pre-computer sense of the phrase) artist, and collecting must be part of both his mentality and his work process.
Indeed, you might have noticed that many of the artists I admire and repeatedly reference tend to use all sorts of things in their images, from old luggage labels to postcards and letters from years gone by. That’s not the sort of thing you can pull out of nowhere - you have to keep an eye open, visit car boot sales, charity shops and garage sales. And the resulting collections rarely sit well with the current zest for decluttering. Unless you have a big house and glass cabinets for display, you might want to think very carefully before you take on this particular trait.
Anyway, I have questions for you. Do you collect anything? What? Has it ever inspired an image? If not, why not go and draw one now?
Posted: October 2nd, 2007 under Habits of successful artists.
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I collect books with unicorns on the cover or in the title. This is the interesting twist on my original collection, simply of unicorns. I have a fair collection of horsey things, too. One of my early kirin drawings was inspired by one of my model horses.