Rowan James

Whilst teaching, I view mark making as highly personal, revealing the sometimes intimate looking journey a student has traveled. So I hold each mark from a human being as a potentially precious statement about them and their experience. In a life room, I will always encourage honest marks, which are an immediate expression of their experience, linked closely to what is in front of them, as opposed to a stylised disconnected mark, one which feels to me like an affectation. Drawing is a discipline which opens my sight to the things around me, where colours and shapes become vivid, and I am dragged by that discipline into the moment, stepping away from my noisy thoughts into a brief rest, like the orthodox Jesus prayer. The process of stroking a surface or a colour with charcoal, feels like a probing of the essence of something, and for me is cathartic and healing. So however painful, if persevered at drawing from life is a great thing, like having a shower. Drawing also allows me to clothe and enter a credible world where my imagination can come alive, as light and form are investigated. I still have an uneasy relationship between my painting and drawing practices, but at best, my brush strokes take on the fluidity and sensitivity of charcoal.