The Wandering Line

Writing originally published in The Wandering Line for Ink Illustration 2011.

http://reportager.uwe.ac.uk/projects12/line/inkline.htm


The Wondering Line

In the digital age there is seldom time for the wandering thought, an explorative journey of an idea, observation, a narrative, or simply a line taken for a walk. Maybe only through the simple act of drawing can one slow down & wonder, to intuitively make a mark whether descriptive or abstract, turning a thought into the visual.

It is perhaps only through a sketch that we have the time to embark on journeys which are undefined, to explore a subject matter without a clearly defined outcome, upon that treacherous path where dangers lurk at every stage. In the sketch we are brave, where unconsciously we express ourselves without thought of audience or client.

Sketches are often unseen. They are the intermediary stage of a work, part of the working process, the immediate thought, the trace of an idea prior to its translation as a resolved piece of work, a visual shorthand, a rhythm of spontaneous marks made across paper or computer tablet induced by an emotional response. The sketch may be a personal space, a place for posing oneself questions in your work, a place to show no fear.

Ink Illustration here exhibits their sketchbooks, diaries & collected material thoughts, personal inner dialogues to show their visual worlds, both real & imagined, at what they dwell upon in their common collective. To reveal there individual journeys with unabashed honesty in an effort to understand & explore the process & philosophy of the sketch.

© Roderick Mills