Drawing: what for?

After the walk a response using charcoal in the Orangery studio

I’m thinking about drawing and the drawing process that i use of observing something,
as I walk my daily walk,
what comes to me is that drawing is
a way
to get to what is hidden,
a way
to get to know what is not knowable by using a different language.
it’s a way
for me to discover something.
so the drawing isn’t the end, the drawing is the means. and the point is the insight.
the point is the experience
the point is the clarity
the point is the learning
the point isn’t the drawing. the drawing is a token landmark to say ‘that’s when i got that [insight]’ and that is how i got that…
drawings that bear witness
landmarks of experience
and the drawing exercises, the observations,
they are exercises in learning to see
exercises in learning to connect
in learning to notice, to feel, to find the quiet
exercises to pay shhh shhh shhh to the ratty mind that rumbles on and on,
to give it a line to follow so that something else can come up,
another creature can show it’s face and be heard
and that creature
all those creatures make up for a rich diverse world on which many lines live
I get to see what is true
and that’s what i want to do more of
that’s what i want to create
that’s what i want to write about
that’s what i want to share
it is so simple
drawing life’s lessons through looking a bit deeper, beyond the surface on which i projected old stories, creatures from others lives and lines long gone
and i want to take people who are feeling lost
i want to take people who don’t get to nature, to the forest, people who don’t get to find the quiet, people who want to find that sense of solitude
people who want to find those creatures that they can find in themselves that will help them to discover more.
so the lines of drawing,
the lines of the different types of drawing
such as the lines i draw sometimes before i sleep
those lines are the lines that capture the creature nature.
i draw it out of my mind and onto paper so that i can greet them, and then sleep easy