residency at can serrat -- arrival and blind contour drawings

Can Serrat Residency, El Bruc, Spain

It has always been difficult to prioritize art-making as part of a daily routine. Unlike things like brushing my teeth or checking my email, sometimes the idea of getting into a creative place where I can produce something, can feel like a negative pressure. With so much free time and a sort of hiatus from all of the normal parts of daily life that usually take priority, one of my goals during my stay here at Can Serrat has been to create a routine that involves art-making as part of what I do every morning, no different then having a cup of coffee or watering the plants. It doesn't have to be an in-depth assignment, and shouldn't be over-thought. But what it does need to involve is a relationship to or connection with my environment. While I am here, I have been walking every day, picking up something I see (leaves, old pill boxes, shards of slate, chestnuts...) and bringing it back to my studio.  

In addition to photographic projects, blind contour drawings are what have come out of this rhythm so far and I have been interested in the process of making them: they are all about looking and responding. And they happen quickly, in ink, unedited. It would be difficult to over-think them. Once they are done, the resulting shapes allude to the object they came from but in some instances only loosely.
It's a fun process