When our grandson comes to visit us he always asks that we can do something artistic together, and his current stay is no exception. I am always on the lookout, therefore, for novel ways to both engage and entertain him with some kind of artistic activity. The ways in which ideas suddenly drop into your head can be interesting, and this has been a case in point. Out of nowhere, Paul Klee’s celebrated phrase suddenly offered itself to me as a way of getting started.
So, we gout out some paper and a stack of coloured pencils, and begun with a stick of charcoal, simply allowing the line to “go for a walk” around the page. Quite soon this developed into a narration of the way in which the line was distracted from its purpose, or became interested in events along the way. After a short while the page was covered with lines creating areas of a diversity of shapes, and the task switched from following “the walk” to giving character, through a diversity of mark-making, to the spaces that had been created in the process. We experimented with a variety of colours and types of mark, gradually filling the page.
After some while I was diverted by the arrival of the contractor responsible for the reconstruction of our conservatory, who had called into check on the remaining problems to be addressed, and I left the lad to finish the drawing on his own. I was delighted when I returned, to see what he had made of the task. It is an exercise that is not only fun but surprisingly productive. I’m inclined to try it again for myself some time, when I am looking for something to keep the artistic juices flowing and there is no proper project in sight. My rather belated thanks to Paul Klee!