Why drawing swimmers is almost better than the real thing (swimming)

I am that kind of person who doesn’t find much comfort in the water. I easily get cold feet. And I sense all kind of dangers lurking under the water surface — algae touching my belly, fish nibbling my skin.

First things first: I haven’t been swimming this entire summer. Not even once! That’s even more surprising since I used to be a triathlete for decades, spending endless hours in the pool, trying to improve my crawl stroke. I silently hated it.

Even more astonishing it is that nonetheless I managed to jump into lakes, rives and even the open sea, often freezing cold, as the prelude to what was my real passion — the 180 km bike ride, followed by the marathon run.

I belong to the land.

Still, this summer I longed for water. A lot. Or maybe it’s the shades of blue I was longing for — the turquoise, cobalt and dark navy?

I created a small series of swimmers just from memory. I always find it easy to draw things I know firsthand: I know swimming from years I spent in the water, I can draw bikes just from repairing my own bike, and I can draw people running because I run. As I imagine myself doing these things, my drawing hand seems to be able to remember. It’s astonishing!

Even more, as I was working on these swimmers, I felt all the nice side effects I would have experienced if I had visited the pool — the sense of calm and cool from the water, the feeling of being refreshed, and the joy of being alive.

I draw because I want to feel alive.

Maybe, if I’m lucky, looking at my art evokes that very same feeling in you, my lovely reader. I am so grateful for you being here — thank you!

I might finally visit the local lido. See you in the water 🙂

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I am a sketchbook artist. As long as I can remember every drawing started with a line. Just recently I found this drawing I made when I was five years old. It seems horses have fascinated me then as they do now!

I love how simple it is: A belly, a neck, four legs, a mane and a tail — it’s a horse! I guess the person on top is me 😉

Fast forward a few decades and I’m still drawing horses. This one is from one of my recent sketchbooks. The lines still dominate, and I guess they appear a bit more confident. Even though anatomically this is probably much closer to a real horse, I remember how I deliberately avoided sticking too close to the anatomy. Instead, I exaggerated certain things that to me make the character of a horse — the big belly, the enormous butt cheeks, and in contrast the somehow skinny legs.

I don’t know why, but all of a sudden this summer I felt I was a bit “stuck” in my line drawing style. Something inside me was longing for a different approach. I took an online class with Adolfo Serra on Domestika called “Illustration Techniques to Unlock your Creativity”, and I can truly say, it opened my mind to all the possibilities of experimenting, playing and having fun! Adolfo introduced me to natural pigments and waxes, and how smudging them and staining (not just my hands) can be so satisfying!

I was finally ready to release the line that had dominated my art process for so many years, and replace the pencil with brushes — and they had to be big!

This is one of the first acrylic paintings I made.

What I really like about using thick paints and brushes is that they have a life of their own.

What I really like about using thick paints and brushes is that they have a life of their own. One can’t fully force a line or a shape — it just appears on the paper, and the rest is playing: this looks like a nose, a chin, an elbow or a cheek, so that’s what it’s going to be. The rest of the picture unfolds by itself.

I’m starting to love living with the unknown.

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