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What is divination drawing?


Divination drawing pairs improvisational drawing with rationalized writing as a method of discovering layered meanings in thoughts. In other words, I make a drawing and then I write down what I think it's about and the whole package tells me somehting about where my head is.

To start the process I quiet my mind until I see a persistent image or, as Philip K. Dick might say, something that doesn't go away when I stop believing in it. I improvise the first marks - holding the subject in mind and allowing the drawing to flow. Intuition guides the lines and colors. My drawing practice often involves trying to intensify fleeting sensations. These states of mind seem to have more dimensions than I can simultaneously grasp. Making the marks on paper flattens the experience into a picture. Some marks diagram geometry while some describe change.

Only after I finish the drawing do I look for meaning by reading the drawing like an inkblot test. I make up a story. I find personal and global references in the story. The story and drawing start to reinforce each other.

It seems like our minds can rationalize anything. What surprises me is that a very particular subject gets attached to each drawing. My subconscious mind is using the drawing to send signs to my conscious mind. What can't be suppressed gets attention.

The drawings on this site continue my eleven years of daily drawing. When I began in 1999 to draw systematically it was with the intention of observing my unspoken rules for visual improvisation. I had hoped to define and code those rules into automated drawing software but the process has proved to be more interesting. Over the years I've discovered persistent symbols that appear in the drawings. I've also learned the important role that my intention plays in the kind of drawings that are created.

I make a drawing each day and share it through this site. Next to each day's drawing is my reading.

I have had this practice of drawing on cards for fourteen years. This continues to be the core practice for all my creative activity.



Feel free to contact me with questions or comments...





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