Drawing as a way of observing

If you come to my gallery shows you won't usually see my observational drawings. The work I usually show develops from my drawings in a very loose and general way. The way all the information and knowledge that I have works it's way into my work. But I still consider observational drawing important or maybe necessary. These days I don't know if that need is so connected to art making. I think it's more connected to watching the natural world. When I sit in a place, a zoo, aquarium, forest, or wherever, I see things that I don't see when I walk through it. Sitting and drawing allows me to become part of the environment I'm observing. I learn a lot about the thing I am drawing- how it is made, how it moves, how it interacts with it's environment- but I also learn a lot about unexpected things.

Last summer drawing at Canyon de Chelly and the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site I saw a lot of beautiful things that went by too quickly to photograph. Quick glimpses of how much we generally miss in the world.