The chapter about Paul Klee was extensive in The Bauhaus Group by  Nicholas Weber, more than 100 pages, in fact.  My attention was drawn to a quote from the master himself: “In my opinion, you have to know what you want to draw, and then you have to be able to depict it – with only one or two lines.”

The rub

I don’t really know what in particular I want to draw. This is one of my problems. I know that I want to be able to express my feelings in visual form. What feelings? The first that comes to my mind is my feelings as a sibling of a nonverbal brother at the lowest end of the autism spectrum.  This is a starting point. Once I crack the code of translating feelings to a visual medium, the sky’s the limit.

So I know what I want to draw – emotions, or perhaps emotional reactions. The rub comes from not knowing how to depict them. Thus far, I have had several ideas: 1) hands are very expressive and have figured prominently in my photographs ; 2) my brother’s eyes are unusual and could elicit emotional responses in others (and probably have); 3) facial expressions; 4) interactions between people.

Let’s say that I can choose a subject to draw. I could practice drawing hands, eyes, and facial expressions, and probably get pretty good at it. But to depict them with one or two lines would be several orders of magnitude more difficult.  However, this might be the ‘shorthand‘ I have been talking about, the abstracting of the essence of the thing to be portrayed.

Today’s study

Yesterday’s study was a watercolor inspired by a photograph I took of a ‘high five’ sign given by my brother to a staff member at his group home. It was edited to only include my brother’s hand and face. His eyes were looking up. I was disturbed by it.

In the study below, I edited further to just include my brother’s hand and his eye. It seemed like Mike always held his hand in this position, as if he was listening to something.

This is what I wanted to draw today. How could I possibly depict it with one or two lines?