The Act of Creative Sketching

“The essence of aesthetic experience consist in intellectual illumination; seeing something familiar in a new, significant light; followed by an emotional release; the rise, expansion, and ebbing away beyond the range or limits of the conceptual sphere.” Arthur Koestler.

It is a significant personal emotion to experience the view of a place that stimulates a new image, which cannot be captured by photography. Photos in such instances are usually distorted or narrow in their scope because of the camera’s optics. One usually manipulates this image to bring it somewhat close to the perceived vision of the observer. But that manipulated image can never equal the geometric principles of the hand-drawn sketch of an artist.  The photograph will have multiple station and vanishing points; where as the artist will respect these principles as seen from his mind’s eye, while transferring them onto a two-dimension format.

The stimulus to sketch such a view is an emotional response to the characteristics of the vision that one sees in one’s mind. It is usually related to the vocabulary of past experiences where relationships trigger associations with images that stimulate a personal desire to express one’s feelings. This can be through many different techniques and medium.  Artists will find solace in drawing, painting, sculpting and of course sketching. The act of the physical manifestation of any such processes depends on the determination of the artist to carry out concentrated explorations until the vision is captured to his or her satisfaction and on or through some media they choose.

Comparing my sketch with the photograph of the same view taken minutes after completion of the sketch, notice how the camera’s optics resolve the technical difficulties of the perspective. The geometric perspective of the sketch however, is true to the perceptual visions of the eye. Although our natural vision is spherical, our brain corrects the distortions that we assimilate allowing us to envision the practical and physical world in which we live.

This act of creative sketching is a phenomenon through which an artist can assimilate and understand his vision from his perceptive repertoire.  The similarities between seeing and sketching are always foremost in my mind before engaging on any sketching journey.  The purpose of my journey is to usually fulfill the expectations and intensions that are embedded in my emotional state in combination with the explosive energy to express myself creatively.