Drawing with no perspective

I watched ‘Painting the mind‘, a documentary by Sarah Feltes, about “the untapped artistic resources of the human brain”. Basically there are two chaps who had strokes and ever since they have had uncontrollable artistic urges every day, and obsess about making art. There’s a part when they compare their artistic behaviours with autistic savants, who usually have one skill that they exceed at, and in most cases obsess about. In this programme they focus on the savants that are artistic, and note the similarities with children between the ages of 4 and 7 who are usually still at the stage of being completely uninhibited with what they produce, with no concept of whether their artwork is ‘good’ or not, in the eyes of a critical adult.

This got me thinking. I have always known/thought that I couldn’t draw, mainly because that’s what everyone has told me (teachers and the like). At art college I tried and gave up because everyone else in the class could draw and I didn’t see the point, especially when I could photograph the damned object infront of me anyway. For years I’ve spontaneously felt like drawing or painting but was constantly disappointed by what I was producing because it didn’t look accurate, and I thought that was the quality that made art good.

But after watching this programme I realised that I could draw whatever I wanted, whenever, and however. I went into the garden in the sunshine, and sat and drew the things around me for a while – completely dismissing the fact I ‘couldn’t draw’ and celebrating what I was seeing and drawing. I banished my old art teachers and tutors from my head and ignored the rule that I should focus on angles and perspectives – I relished in producing something I liked. It was an eye opening experience and I recommend everyone trying it.