Stuart Cairns

I have started doing a daily drawing after realising I hadn’t drawn in months. Drawing is a key part of my practice, I love playing around with shapes and marks, considering form and composition of imagined objects. I usually use watercolours or inks- for their vivid colours and ability to stain, wash out and mark.
The shapes I’m investigating generally are forms with a sense of utility/function- most recently arrows with their relationship with my early play in the woods as a kid. I feel this expands upon my interest in utensils as an artist coming from the field of silversmithing. Utensils are simply defined as objects switch utility- I see this as an open definition including tools and weapons as well as the domestic forms of knives and forks.
I draw on watercolour blocks of paper – usually heavy weight Fabriano, at the moment mostly on 5″x7″ sheets. This small size is great for doing quick drawings- small and intimate without a massive space to consider. Small means quick and considered – which is helpful as I had become so busy that the activity of drawing had slipped away, overcome by other demands on my time. It’s good to get back to drawing regularly, a simple pleasure and as it becomes more regular I think the drawings will become more expansive. Here is a quick pic of a larger drawing and 3 of the Arrow series.