Entering the river 1

I invited Norman Anderson to join me in creating a long collaborative drawing. This piece was made in Norman’s studio in four separate sessions over 2 weeks.

The Process

20 minutes meditation prior to drawing (except for one session)

Drawing, with brush and ink, simultaneously, together. Starting on opposite sides of the table and moving around to the other side. Each coming to a stop when it felt complete.

A few days after completion, we unrolled the whole piece — the first time we had seen the whole length of it.

It seems right to photography it going off into “infinity”. It could have gone on and on!

On unrolling it, at first I found it uncomfortable — what is it? Too busy and chaotic. But as I stayed with it, the marks and patterns gained coherence and started to settle into a rhythmic, undulating entity. An expression of gentle exploration, curiosity, a drawing of “something” into existence.

We were unsure which of the sections was done without meditation, which was surprising. I think we would have expected it to be obvious which sections were less “egoic” or overly busy. There were two energetic and busy sections, and we worked out it was the third section that was done without meditation because we had set up a format — meditation followed by drawing — which we repeated and then decided to break the format. We decided it was more satisfactory to start with meditation. It seemed to produce more sensitivity to the other’s mark, more awareness of space.

“It is a pleasure to work together on a drawing in ink. Meditation and the creative meeting is a wonder.” Norman Anderson.