The Primacy of Drawing

National gallery. Random rest of legs below Johann Liss’s “Judith in the tent of Holofernes”. Thinking of the frog spawn heads that I’ve been drawing. Bubble wrap popping.

In the evening went to see comedian Bill Bailey at the Wyndem Theatre. He was showing renaissance paintings of doubting Thomas, fingers in the wound and making observational jokes about what was going on – Thomas being a rational bloke who just wanted to get a few things straight. Then the Caravaggio version came up, “The Increduality of St Thomas”, and the theatre gasped.  A spontaneous response to it, to what it touches. To its beauty that transcends that evening of comical banter. A modern audience caught with a big projected image in a Victorian threatre.

Wrote some courses for St. Ive’s School of Painting.  Sent them off to Dan. God knows what he will make of them. Rushed. One of them is about a textual approach to drawing – “The Scrawl Within” – which is a terrible title.  I was on Tottenham Ct Rd yesterday looking for the Laura Petheridge book, “The Primacy of Drawing”, and one of the book sellers gave me this quote- “Drawing is writing for the left hand” -  J. Cage. I wish I had called the course that.

All the Gentileschi’s. Just remembered them. Series. Back to Cornwall. Train and the Tamar. Image of Carn Brea etched silhouette awaiting. Redruth recheche.