WITHOUT TOUCHING THE SAND

I have the same question that Dale asked in his comment on my post from a few days ago titled "FREEDOM." What to call the above image and others like it? Are they truly drawings?

They are not drawings in the traditional sense, but they are done using the same mind/eye/hand coordination required for drawing on paper. What is different is that I make the drawing/painting movements on my computer track pad, and those index finger/hand/arm movements result in marks on my laptop screen drawing plane.

On the other hand :-) , the process is much like fingerpainting. As I move my index finger on the computer track pad, I am reminded of childhood experiences of using my index finger to move fingerpaint around on paper to create images.

The now-obsolete Apple Painting program on my iBookG4 allows me to vary the size of the lines, to blend the lines as if I were using charcoal and to use various other functions that are much more tedious on a computer than simply drawing on paper. The program will easily make perfect circles and lines, if I choose, but I choose to draw freehand. The best thing about the process, especially given that I am unemployed, is that I don't have to buy art supplies, except for printer ink and paper to print the images on.

The resulting image on a computer screen, though, appears to be a woodcut or a linocut, a silk screen print or, possibly, a scratchboard drawing. I have so far used the term "trackpad drawing" to describe these images I have created freehand.

It's something like drawing a picture on packed beach sand with one's index finger, without touching the sand. I'd rather be on a Northern California beach drawing in the sand, but I can make the best of what is right at hand :-)






















("A Question For The Teacher" is a trackpad drawing from several years ago by old girl of the north country. The day lilies are thriving this spring in that planter on my porch.)