Sketching from memory

Edward expresses his preference for drawing from memory. Earnestly.

...

Edward: I think it was Degas. Or maybe Matisse. Anyway, whoever it was, he’d go from his studio down to the basement where he’s have the model he was drawing, and then rush up the stairs and to draw as much as he remembered.

Henri: Good way to exercise.

Edward: It wasn’t for that. He didn’t like drawing directly from models.

Henri: Is that why you don’t like drawing from photographs?

Edward: I’m not Degas.

Henri: Any more than I am Matisse.

...

Drawings of mechanical things

Why do you prefer drawing buildings and boats and bicycles and man-made things?

I draw natural things too.

But your trees end up looking like buildings.

I know. I’m just a learner. It’s easier for me to start with blocky, mechanical objects.

I’m beginning to suspect you have a mechanistic philosophy of the world.

You’re reading too much into things. I suspect I just reduce the natural world to straight lines so I can at least start learning to draw. Anway, what’s wrong with drawing straight lines? I know at least one artist, no names mentioned, who couldn’t draw a straight line to save her life.

Two views of the same scene

“You often sit out on the veranda looking at this view?”
“Have been for sixty years. It’s changed over the years a bit. That modern cathedral tower that looks like a meat safe obscures the lovely art deco clock tower.”
“And its attraction now?”
“It’s the V-shape looking down the valley to the sea. And the canopy created by the magnolia that frames the view.”
“What’s the best time of day?”
“Evenings. Sun’s behind us then. With a little red wine before dinner. What are you drawing?”
“Just two of the houses. A quick sketch.”
“Sketches never look quite the same as the actual scene.”
“With an amateur like me, the pencil takes control, but a skilled sketcher controls what appears.”
“Why do you sketch?”
“It helps me go from merely seeing something to entering it and understanding it.”