Drawings & Sketches - Drawing Sounds

Part of this information is repeated in other areas of the Studio Archive.
 
Observing and recording on paper, the lines a bird follows as it soars or swoops can be a way of catching the essential essence of the particular bird.  Drawing with pen or pencil on paper with closed eyes following only sound, for instance of a Fulmer or Oystercatcher, or water over a waterfall is another way to capture the esential essence of what it is that is being drawn.

Making marks in response to sound alone is like making the paper sing.

The Intruders by Michael Marshall Pub. Harper Collins is a novel.

The story is not only a good read but also has a lot of insights and ideas.  I found the insights about sound and seeing resonating with how I like to draw occasionally from sound alone.

I wrote down a few extracts at the time I was reading the Intruders but failed to note the page number before the book was passed on.  If you read the story this is the the extract.

'The Neandertals had flutes, he said, Why?
‘To play tunes’, the man shrugged.
‘That just rephrases the question. Why did they believe it important to be able to replicate certain sounds, when just getting enough to eat was hard labour?’
‘Why indeed.’
‘because sound is important in ways we’ve forgotten. For millions of years it couldn’t be recorded. Now it can, so we concentrate on the types with obvious meaning. But music is a side alley. Even speech isn’t important. Every other species on the planet gets by with chirps and barks-how come we need thousands of words?......

....   ‘Because the walls of Jericho story is not about breaking down literal walls, but figurative ones.’ Oz said. Sound isn’t about hearing. It’s about seeing too’

 

For more information about author Michael Marshall go to: 

http://www.michaelmarshallsmith.com/