Drawing on Love

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Jean Drawing ca. 1901 Pierre Auguste Renoir

“. . . in fact, the enjoyment of the sketcher from the contemplation of nature is a thing which to another is almost incomprehensible. If a person who had no taste for drawing were at once to be endowed with both the taste and power, he would feel, on looking out upon nature, almost like a blind man who had just received his sight.”

- John Ruskin

To paint well, we must learn to see well. And, one of the best and surest ways to learn to see is to draw from life. Drawing is the beginning. Drawing requires one-pointed focus and concentration. When we concentrate intently, we are rewiring our brains in that task. We now know that the brain gradually makes new neuronal connections in the visual and motor cortex as we draw. These new connections, in turn, make it possible for us to not only see better, but also to manipulate our penc…