Daniel Chatto studied English at Oxford University and Art at The City & Guilds School of Art. Daniel's work is founded in painting from life in a wide range of media from fresco to oil, wax, egg, gum and glue tempera and he teaches the making and use of these traditional paints in contemporary practice. He shows at Long & Ryle in London.
On drawing
It is hard, almost contradictory to write about the importance of drawing – you just have to do it. We all knew its importance to us as children, and we can all see the importance it had even for our earliest ancestors (who had a lot of other stuff to worry about). Seeing a cave drawing is surely one of the most surprising and moving visual experiences each one of us might ever have and the immediacy of the connection across time that they give us proves the power of drawing. This power is like having a super-power (I am sure I read that not wrote it), because anyone who begins to draw simply begins to see much more, and by seeing more and more clearly you begin to express something of your individuality in this seeing: it is the power of vision we are dealing with.
