Frequently Asked Questions 8
8. During one part of the day we were asked to keep changing the same picture, was there a reason for this?
Initial statements are not always the most effective
and so should not necessarily be clung to. By replacing habitual or overly
familiar solutions in a drawing other possibilities can then emerge; a
drawing's contents, character and purpose can therefore develop over time.
Ideas replace one another all the time without causing too much difficulty;
over the last few years we have seen constant development in fashion,
science, politics and football management.
When you change your mind or develop a new idea mid way through a drawing
or painting however there is a strong possibility of the result becoming
a bit messy or even confusing to look at. This might at first feel off
putting; the changes you have made seem to have made a negative contribution
but this all depends upon how you view the purpose of the work.
Many artists make sweeping changes to their initial attempts working on
the basis of trial and error; their most effective solutions only arrive
once they have immersed themselves in a process for sufficient time.
Drawings can sometimes offer more questions or uncertainties than they
do answers, conflicting answers may be produced in the same drawing. This
isn't strange or abnormal, if you think about it just how is it possible
to establish certainties about the exact nature of something by simply
looking and drawing?
If you accept the idea that the information on your paper is a proposal
rather than a fact and is in some way temporary then it becomes more acceptable
and maybe even desirable to make changes when new possibilities are discovered.
