Interviewsand Articles

 

Portfolio: Leigh Hyams

by Leigh Hyams, Dec 1, 2007


 

 








As soon as I saw Leigh’s dog drawings, I knew I wanted to have a selection of them in the magazine. The seven drawings in issue #15 were done either in watercolor or were drawn in ink with a stick. Leigh told me she used long sticks, maybe three feet long to draw with. Following is her description of her stick and ink technique...
—Richard Whittaker

"One day I went into the woods to draw carrying a bottle of ink and some paper, forgetting to bring anything to use for making marks. But the trees were singing, I HAD to draw and there were sticks on the ground all around me. Without thinking, I stuck one in the ink and drew with it for hours, amazed at the huge variety of lines it made—thick and thin, wobbly, unpredictable, scratchy, delicate, screaming. It skipped at certain speeds and angles and I found myself drawing with dotted lines. Splendid blots appeared at random.

To change the font I flipped the stick and put its other end into the ink. I can’t bear drawing with pens or pencils or manicured pieces of wood like toothpicks any longer.  They don’t have the soul of a stick, any stick. I like drawing with a stick four feet long and curvy. Sticks are bursting with possibilities. They are fine for drawing dogs or anything else." - Leigh Hyams






  

 

About the Author

As a teacher, Leigh Hyams was an inspiration to hundreds if not thousands of artists and non-artists. A fine artist herself, early in her career she was a studio assistant for Philip Guston and a long time friend of Meyer Shapiro.

 

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