Hello everyone,
and welcome to Drop-In Drawing.
My name is Pamela Lawton,
and I'm here today
to share a unique drawing approach with you,
inspired by a Chinese wall painting,
the Buddha of Medicine.
In this current moment in our own history,
as we process the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19,
each of us is making our way toward an uncertain future.
This Buddhist mural, with its meditative and healing roles,
may be just what is called for in this moment,
where we can pause for reflection, and engage our senses.
Combining diverse materials,
We will draw with tape and pencil,
to explore the effects of line over a rough surface.
This method of tape drawing
is one I developed while in quarantine,
and use in my own artwork, and in my teaching.
As the environment became more restricted,
my methods expanded, using all of the senses.
Today, we'll use tactility
to activate our senses,
and challenge our familiar approaches,
tapping into a more immediate present in the act of drawing.
As we enter the gallery
where this monumental mural is housed,
our eyes are drawn to the expansive symmetry of forms
radiating out from a central large Buddha figure.
The nearly 50 foot long painting
makes one feel small when standing in front of it.
The array of figures surrounding the central Buddha form
create shallow rows, and vary in size,
with rhythmic repeated patterns,
undulating outlines suggest cloud-like auras,
complimenting sharp shapes outlined in color.
The fading color and uneven surfaces,
a patina created by 700 years of age,
further emphasize the earthy tones and surfaces.
As we move closer,
the immense painting envelops us in a sense of place,
to the Temple of Vast Triumph
in a monastery in Northern China,
Its porous and rough surface of clay and straw,
makes the fluidity of the paint lines more mysterious.
Its tactile surface belies the flowing lines,
like water over stones.
Buoyed by orbs and movement,
a celestial air is evoked, suitable for a Buddha
known as Bhaishajyaguru, seated in his paradise.
Followers turn to him for healing,
and the prevention of disasters.
The construction of this wall was well-timed,
appearing shortly after a natural disaster
in the form of an earthquake,
had destroyed the previous temple wall in 1303.
The Buddha Bhaishajyaguru,
is well-defined in color shapes,
with red and green robes, and a green lotus petal throne.
He holds his right hand with his palm facing upward,
in a gesture that signifies teaching.
The smaller figures of varying size surrounding him,
are Bodhisattvas,
who help to support and identify the Bhaishajyaguru,
with their symbols, including the two figures
to his left and right,
holding discs for the sun and the moon.
The Buddha is in his personal paradise,
a place of enlightenment,
whereas the Bodhisattvas
are there to mediate between realms,
and to show others the way.
The monks in the monastery in Shangxi province,
where this is from,
would have meditated on the mural's meaning.
And we, with our drawing approach,
can use our engagement to form a reflection, and meditation.
The sense of community and solitude that a monastery evokes
can parallel our present day, where we come together online,
to perform our creative acts, with like-minded drawers.
Now I'm going to create a tape drawing,
using tape and pencil,
in response to this detail from the temple wall.
To prepare, please gather a roll of masking tape, pencils,
erasers, a pencil sharpener,
something soft to rub your drawing with,
such as cotton or paper towel,
and your drawing surface paper.
If you do have different widths of tape, that's great.
If not,
you could also vary the width of your tape through tearing,
which I'll demonstrate shortly.
Scotch tape could work,
but will provide a different effect.
I'm going to begin using my tape to draw any lines or shapes
that stand out for me in the image.
Feel free to choose a different detail from this piece
or draw along with me.
You may be familiar with the term contour drawing,
which means drawing the edges of things.
We will also use a contour line approach, but with tape.
Then we'll add pencil marks in various places,
and then add more tape, sometimes in torn places.
And then, just like in any drawing,
we'll use the eraser to build up areas,
and even to, we will remove tape when necessary.
Some lines will be created with tape, some with pencil,
and some with eraser.
So you don't need to worry
about capturing all the lines in the beginning,
with the tape.
In this drawing, don't worry about perfection,
even if you are drawing the Buddha.
This drawing is about responding
to the tactile surface of the wall,
and noticing how it interacts with the paint lines
that cascade over the walls,
just as much as focusing
on a traditional form of representation.
As you go along,
think about the mood you are creating through your choices.
I'm going to draw a sharp edge outline with my tape.
And I'm going to start with the shoulder.
And I'm pressing with my left hand,
I am left-handed, and curling the tape,
sometimes with my right hand, and sometimes with my left,
I like it when my tape twists,
it adds more tactile qualities to my drawing.
Going around the upper part of the head, the ushnisha,
as it's called, a symbol of the Buddha's wisdom,
bending around the other side, pulling it in a little.
The wonderful thing,
one of the many wonders of tape drawing, is you can make,
just remove it, and do something different,
if you're not happy with your line.
Coming down the side of the ear, long ear lobes,
to the cheekbone, the neck, the shoulder,
and guiding it, again, with my non-drawing hand,
and my drawing hand.
Now I can make some adjustments.
I feel that this shoulder should be wider,
so we'll come down this way.
And right now, it's going to be a rough outline.
Every now and then I'm going to feel my lines,
so that I understand both the texture,
and the look of my drawing.
I find when I make tactile drawings,
I'm so relieved to break away from the 2D screen
that we've all been subjected to during quarantine.
Now we'll take a closer look, and I'll draw the orb.
I actually like tracing with my hand over my paper,
before I make my drawing decisions.
You may be wondering why the paper's so big.
I like my paper to relate to the size of my hands,
and my tape.
So I selected this size for that reason.
But of course you can use any size.
I'm eyeballing, so to speak,
the relationship of white space around the Buddha's head.
In this drawing, my orb went right off of my page.
Whenever you make a drawing from another work of art,
or from a view, you make decisions that as you go along,
you put things in, you leave things out,
and that's what I'm doing here, including the whole orb.
Now I can make some more decisions about adding,
for example, facial features, and other details.
I'm showing you now a drawing at a different stage,
where I've developed all of the tape.
And now I'm going to go in and add pencil.
So, I've obviously begun to do so.
And I like to apply my pencil using the side.
And I'm getting my information,
now you can see my orb, and this one is more complete.
Each time I do it, it's a little bit different,
which I love.
So now I can go back in and I can add pressures
with my pencil, to create the dark areas.
I like to vary my stroke and my direction.
And I like to use my cotton
to blend and soften the darker areas,
as well as the lighter areas.
I can use my eraser to draw some of the details.
For example, here we have the swirly line,
and underneath we have somebody's hand,
she's called an apsara, a celestial being.
And I'm going to just let that shape go off the edge,
so I'm drawing with my eraser.
I can also go in and draw with my tape.
Now, this tape that I've chosen just now,
it's harder to tear, but it's a lot wider.
So that's It's also interesting
to think about the color of your tape.
I can build it up more.
I'd like to demonstrate a technique
where you can go right over your tape, with your pencil
And you can use your tape as a blocking tool,
and then remove it.
And when you do remove it,
you create a texture where the tape has been pulled away.
So I'm going to be pushing and pulling,
going back and forth between my tape,
and my erasing, and my mark making.
On the side,
I have lots of different pieces of tape
that I can use to add details,
including very small lines.
You might be so happy with just tape
that you might decide not to add the pencil, but if you do,
you can develop your drawing in a different,
on a different level.
I love how the tape is casting shadows on the paper.
Our photograph doesn't show all of the details,
nor does the original wall show all the original details,
since it's 700 years old,
and it's damaged and faded in certain places.
This absence of detail enables my own intuitive feel
for the surface to take hold, as it will yours.
Here, I have a more developed drawing still,
where I've been able to build up the light and shadow.
And when I say light and shadow,
I mean the dark and light in my drawing.
I have lines drawn with tape,
lines drawn with pencil,
and lines drawn with eraser.
I'd still like to develop this a little more.
So I'll be adding different types of patterns
that I see in the clouds,
and that I see in the kind of atmosphere
in between the the white, bright shapes,
and the darker areas.
So I can darken my dark areas still more.
I find if I rub the opposite direction of my pencil lines,
it creates a more solid blur, if that make sense.
And in this especially dark area,
my white line will show up very well.
Let's see.
That's pretty good.
And I'm going to just pull out a few more shapes,
both with pencil and tape, to balance my drawing.
When you make a drawing,
you're trying to balance between the areas of concentration,
areas of broad shapes, and a little bit of specificity
here and there.
In the end,
we have a drawing enriched by taped areas
to create many levels of dark and light,
shadow, form and line.
Share your drawing with a family member or friend,
and ask them to touch it first with their eyes closed.
During this process,
we've come closer to the experience of a wall mural
of the Buddha of Medicine.
We've come together in our drawing,
just as the monks in this monastery would come together
to meditate in their solitude.
We have reached out to the Buddha of Medicine,
as perhaps a place where we can go
to reflect on the experiences we are all having,
during these most unusual of times.
If you are on social media,
please share your drawings at #MetSketch
so we can see what you've done.
Thank you so much for joining me today,
and see you next time.