I first began drawing with my eyes closed after visiting Khao Sok – in March 2023 – a large artificial lake in south Thailand, with great towers of limestone emerging from the waters. My friend and I were in a boat that was moving quite swiftly and I was unable to draw these amazing pinnacles at the time. That evening, when I got back to the coast, where we were staying, I decided to draw the towers of Khao Sok from memory, but I realised that my memory would never be sufficient, nor would copying a photograph do the experience of seeing them justice. So I started drawing what I remembered of these great, rugged pinnacles with my eyes shut. The results were, in my estimation, the best drawings I had ever done.
Because bereft of sight, I relied on the tactile experience of exerting pressure on the pencil in my hand. My marks were stronger than usual. Because there was no way of being accurate, my marks were less tentative. I was drawing with my feeling for my subject.
For the next two years I drew almost exclusively with my eyes shut. What was of the utmost importance, in those days, was to have a subject in my head. Often the subject would be a notion – the notion of war, for instance, or love. I became keen on drawing sequences that attempted to tell stories – the Story of Ares and Aphrodite, the Story of Samson.
People often mention other artists who have drawn with their eyes shut, as if I should have a problem with that. I reply that there are as many ways of drawing with the eyes shut as there are drawing with the eyes open.
Here are some links to other eyes-shut posts
Other slide shows can be found at my Video page on Youtube
Postscript: drawing with the eyes closed led me on to painting with the eyes closed. Not so successful because there is less tactile feeling to be had from a brush. Nevertheless, it got me into painting a black ground and then drawing on it with the eyes shut. This reversal of the norm (painting as preliminary, drawing as secondary action) suited my contrarian sensibility. What I discovered was that pencil marks become deliciously silvery on black. Also, the gleam alters – as it is dependent on the light and dependent on the position of the viewer. This has led to a new body of work:
Thus one preoccupation leads to another.
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