Drawing at the core of my practice
2018
“drawing itself: a medium that is both as old as humanity and as new as the dawn, always changing and forever constant. It is a medium for now and every age.”
Susan Owens.
When I finally got the courage to start an art practice, in spite of my fear, my desire to create was bigger, I needed it in the same way we need to breathe to live. It was drawing that became the starting point, I did not see its full value back then, I saw it as a stepping stone, to a degree maybe as a small step. But over the years this turned massively and now drawing is one of the most important elements of my practice.
2019
It started with a destiny meetings as it often is the case in life, I got to work alongside Athena Parella during an artist residency in Maussane, France. She worked during the weeks we were together on one artwork, it was a drawing, and her love for the medium kept me both intrigued and fascinated. I remember her sitting vividly with determination and patience every day as she worked on her artwork. We had a couple of conversations around drawing. It was absolutely enchanting, especially as she introduced me to other artists who worked exclusively in drawing as their medium. She was so passionate about the work and in a serendipitous turn of events, it turned out Athena and I had been part of an online art course with Amaya Gurpide. I didn’t know at the time I took the workshop with Amaya that my mental health was spiraling down, and that I would need years to heal and that art would be at center stage of my recovery.
Athena Parella in Maussane, France 2024
Athena Parella, Jonathan Y. Tang and Morag Caister, artists in residents in 2024
Fast forward to 2025, after participating in a workshop with Juliette Aristides, drawing was at the foundation over the days leading up to the painting portion of the workshop. Drawing became since then the most wonderful way to actively and continuously engage with my practice. It require little to now preparation, I could carry around in my purse without it being cumbersome. I have been reading books by Juliette on the topic of drawing and after reading the amazing book by Susan Owens: The Story of Drawing, I am completely enamoured by this medium in its own right.
Workshops in Yorkshire, June 2025
February 2026 reads.
Susan’s book was very comprehensive and included several women artists from history and contemporary, making it both a refreshing read that is highly valuable as a balanced representation of artists (very seldom this is the case even these days for art publications, unfortunately this continues to be the exception rather than the rule). This is beyond an alternative history of art, it is a must read for those of us working in the arts.
