Drawing 1 Learning Log: Introduction

I remember the day that I had my idea of what a line was totally blown apart by the idea that there are no "lines" in nature, only perceived lines. All perceived lines are actually three dimensional in nature. Today also expanded my idea of drawing with the words found in the Drawing 1 course manual, "... drawing might also involve a collection of virtual or temporary stains, smudges and trails within an everyday spatial environment." (Khatir, 2014, p. 16) I look forward to the chance to expand my experience and involvement in drawing through this Level 1 course.

Exercise 1

My first experiment was to show that lipstick drawn on a window creates two different types of smudges. The smudge caused by the fatty smear of lipstick, became partly obliterated by the streaks of toothpaste running through it. With the sun streaming through the window, it caste poltergeist-like shadows onto the kitchen floor. This made me think of how temporal the "drawing" of shadows is. The shadow appears to have little correlations to the drawing on the glass.

Lipstick drawn on the kitchen window and then smeared with toothpaste.

Ethereal 'writing' cast by the shadows created by the lipstick.

After making a cup of tea, I played with the trails that a teabag can make across the counter. Unfortunately the marks were so light that it would not have photographed well, so I then created trails on a piece of A4.

Teabag traces. I love the triangular shape of the prints created.

I then looked around my house for evidence of temporal trails which by their prevalence over a long period of time have become permanent records. I spotted the rust trail in our bathroom under the main shut-off tap and the cracks in the tiles which show the shifting of the clay soil on which our house is built.