A decade ago, an artist friend gave me a bag full of good quality acrylic paint in tubes; she suffered from allergic reactions whenever she used them. I gratefully accepted the treasure and I had a three-week holiday ahead of me. I prepared my twenty boards in the rustic location where I normally spend my holidays and I wondered a bit what I would paint? I decided I would prepare ten backgrounds for landscapes and ten backgrounds for portraits. I was going to take photographs of the landscapes and the people I see around me. I walked into the veld and took my photographs. In the comfort of the little “holiday-studio” I downloaded the photographs and then I started to draw by looking at the computer screen. Those were the days when the screens went to sleep much faster and I had to protect the keyboard with a cloth, not to have paint spots on the expensive device.
I “coined” the term “spout drawings” as far as I know. (Excuse my claim, but nobody seems to have heard of "spout drawings" when I explain this method; this way of working may not be new.) I would take the acrylic paint, squirt it into a jar, dilute it with a little water, mix it very well to get rid of the lumps and then pour it into a plastic bottle (very much like a ketchup bottle) that has a “spout”. Then I would use the bottle like a pencil. I personally do not really like doing pencil drawings myself – I feel it is too much work for too little effect. Drawing with paint is dramatic and there is immediate colour, which is what I like. (The only thing you need to remember, if you want to use this method, is that you have to put the drawings in a secure place once you are done, because the thick acrylic lines of the spout drawing take about a day to dry, depending on the weather conditions.)
I included a landscape drawing here (done over the pre-prepared background) which must have taken me less than ten minutes to complete, but the simplicity always touches my heart. Occasionally, I catch myself thinking that I have to do works that are complicated, because they may “tell” the viewer that I have talent and that I know what I am doing. However, the peaceful beauty that stems from an easier work done without pretense often illustrates to me that my notion of thinking ardent struggle deserves more esteem, could be slightly on the illogical side.
As artists we normally “feel” the next creative step and when simplicity prompts us to silence our inward critic, let us do so. Let there be a measure of peace in our studios and lives from time to time; not everything has to be an ardent struggle.
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