Face #21

4X5" Ballpoint pens

There is a difference between drawing what we see and drawing what we know. When we are younger, we tend to draw with symbols--the sun is a big yellow circle with lines sticking out, the house is a triangle on top of a box, etc. These symbols can follow us as we learn to draw more realistically. In these last three drawings, I started to notice some of the symbols that I use when drawing a face. The particular way I draw the nose, the shape I tend to use for the eyes, the line I use to mark the chin--all of these are my symbols. If I want to get closer to a likeness of my subjects, these symbols will have to be abandoned for what my eye actually sees.