Sometimes I wonder what it might be like to draw or paint by following a series of set instructions, like a musician follows sheet music.
Today is “see and respond” day in our 30 Day Challenge. Actually today it will be “respond and see” day, because our cues come from one of Sol LeWitt’s instructions for creating a drawing.
At the age of 40, in 1968, Sol LeWitt began creating written instructions for how others were to make his wall drawings. He collaborated with draftsman, students, and gallery visitors. Each time a prescriptive drawing was followed it produced slightly different results. LeWitt compared his instructions to musical scores, which are different every time they are played. LeWitt believed that the conception of the idea, rather than its execution, constitutes the artwork, and thereby everyone can make not just art, but good art, since quality was in the conception, not the doing. He rejected the traditional importance assigned to the artist’s own hand.
Over the course of his prolific and influential career 40 year career (b 1928 – 2007), Sol LeWitt produced approximately 1,350 wall drawings, comprising approximately 3,500 installations at more than 1,200 venues. The work ranged from graphite on white walls, to colored pencils and pens, to vividly painted installations in bright geometric color.
LeWitt created hundreds of instructions for drawings. I was able to find one that could be done alone at your desk, with a pencil and paper. I didn’t want to alter his original text, so though the instructions call for you to draw on the wall, I think a simple piece of paper or digital tablet will suffice.
Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawing #118
“On a wall surface, any continuous stretch of wall, using a hard pencil, place fifty points at random. The points should be evenly distributed over the area of the wall. All of the points should be connected by straight lines.”
Yup. That’s all you get! I have purposefully avoided giving you any indications of what this might look like. The rest is up to you. Give it a try and see what happens.
Sol LeWitt – Wall Drawing #122, 1972, Black pencil grid, blue crayon arcs and lines, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
Thinking ahead: You may want to look around to see if you can scrounge up a ruler, some black paper, a white pen or pencil, and some graph paper for future challenges. If you have these materials ready that will be nifty, but if next Wednesday’s challenge arrives and you just have a normal pencil and paper, you’ll be fine.
Post it
Post your work to social media with the tags #30sal & #seattleartistleague. To find more followers for your page, you can add these tags to your post:
I resisted buying an iPad for years. I didn’t need it. I didn’t want it. I prided myself on using actual materials for actual paintings, and maintaining old style slow time in this instant digital world. The truth is, I don’t actually make many actual paintings. I’m actually very busy. If I were go to …
I chose these sketches specifically to look at how vine charcoal can be used in a drawing to talk about change, movement and time. Vine charcoal is a lovely medium. It’s just a simple burnt branch, and it allows the artist to make a line, smudge it out, and make another. The dark lyrical lines …
30SAL Challenge: Instructions for Drawing #118
Sometimes I wonder what it might be like to draw or paint by following a series of set instructions, like a musician follows sheet music.
Today is “see and respond” day in our 30 Day Challenge. Actually today it will be “respond and see” day, because our cues come from one of Sol LeWitt’s instructions for creating a drawing.
At the age of 40, in 1968, Sol LeWitt began creating written instructions for how others were to make his wall drawings. He collaborated with draftsman, students, and gallery visitors. Each time a prescriptive drawing was followed it produced slightly different results. LeWitt compared his instructions to musical scores, which are different every time they are played. LeWitt believed that the conception of the idea, rather than its execution, constitutes the artwork, and thereby everyone can make not just art, but good art, since quality was in the conception, not the doing. He rejected the traditional importance assigned to the artist’s own hand.
Over the course of his prolific and influential career 40 year career (b 1928 – 2007), Sol LeWitt produced approximately 1,350 wall drawings, comprising approximately 3,500 installations at more than 1,200 venues. The work ranged from graphite on white walls, to colored pencils and pens, to vividly painted installations in bright geometric color.
LeWitt created hundreds of instructions for drawings. I was able to find one that could be done alone at your desk, with a pencil and paper. I didn’t want to alter his original text, so though the instructions call for you to draw on the wall, I think a simple piece of paper or digital tablet will suffice.
Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawing #118
“On a wall surface, any continuous stretch of wall, using a hard pencil, place fifty points at random. The points should be evenly distributed over the area of the wall. All of the points should be connected by straight lines.”
Yup. That’s all you get! I have purposefully avoided giving you any indications of what this might look like. The rest is up to you. Give it a try and see what happens.
Thinking ahead: You may want to look around to see if you can scrounge up a ruler, some black paper, a white pen or pencil, and some graph paper for future challenges. If you have these materials ready that will be nifty, but if next Wednesday’s challenge arrives and you just have a normal pencil and paper, you’ll be fine.
Post it
Post your work to social media with the tags #30sal & #seattleartistleague. To find more followers for your page, you can add these tags to your post:
#30sal #seattleartistleague #drawingchallenge #drawing #art #illustration
#sketch #artchallenge #drawings #artist #draw #artistsoninstagram
#sketchbook #instaart #drawthisinyourstyle #artwork #drawingoftheday
#dailydrawing #inkdrawing #drawingsketch #artoftheday #myart
#pencildrawing #drawthisinyourstylechallenge #creativity
#creativechallenge #sollewitt #walldrawing
Padlet
To be eligible to win a prize, please post your work to Padlet.
PADLET JAN 11-16
https://seattleartistleague.padlet.org/SAL/fl2cnuio5g0ocsfp
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