I’m fortunate to still have around fifty pieces of artwork, kept safely in a portfolio, from my four years at The Regional College of Art, Manchester, during the early swinging ‘60s... and the painting above is one typical example which I remember doing as if it were yesterday.

Using a tablet of black poster paint, pot of water, two sable brushes - a 1 inch flat and #10 round - and a 22 x 30 inch sheet of cartridge paper... the nude study was a five-minute exercise in seeing and capturing the model. That it bares only a passing resemblance to the lady was not important... for it was a successful attempt at a difficult exercise. I have tried several times, not to simply repeat this but to capture the freshness and spontaneity of working to a time limit to concentrate the mind on the basic form and lighting which captures the essence of the subject, any subject... and it is also a good exercise in allowing your thoughts to stop worrying about getting it right, and to allow them to interpret the subject differently.

I sometimes try alternative approaches to my photography when I’m feeling adventurous (usually) or jaded (occasionally)... quickly viewing, framing and taking a shot looking, for example, upside-down between my legs. The results usually show a certain amount of chaos - compared to the norm - because of the unnaturally low viewpoint, tendency to point the camera with a more upward inclination leading to buildings or interior walls and corners showing converging verticals, and always a tilting horizon when doing this outdoors! But what does it matter?

For excellent examples of spontaneous drawing I recommend having look at Dr. Omed’s “Chaos Drawings” a.k.a. Silly String sketches... his deft touch and draughtsmanship with the simplest of materials is inspiring. And when I think about it... it’s not necessary to add multiple choices of materials to one’s palette to start with. Beautiful tribal art made centuries ago by scratching stone or finger daubing with vegetable dyes and pigments still exists... so it isn’t necessary to think you’ve got to get every item assembled first... just do it with what you’ve got!

Which reminds me of the an audio blog from the mouth of ”LensWork” editor Brooks Jenson in which he talks about “The Art Kit” (scroll down the linked web page to item LW0210)... it only runs to two minutes twelve but is very droll. After you have downloaded and listed to it, grab a brush, one single pot of paint (any colour), one large piece of paper (not two or three) and spend 5-minutes, not trying to do as I did... but trying to do what you want to express... any subject is suitable and your treatment of it is open. It may attempt to be - or actually be - figurative, expressionist or abstract... it doesn’t matter to me but it should matter to you. Go the full five minutes and not a minute more or less. Stop working on that piece of art after five minutes... even if you haven’t finished it. If you’re in the mood start another five-minute exercise on and with a clean sheet... the more you practice the better you’ll get.