Art is the Elimination of the Unnecessary (Pablo Picasso)

 

 

I woke up from a dream, or perhaps because of one. Although I did not recall what fantasy I had lived during the early hours of the morning, I recalled that I was surrounded by people made of lines. Pencil lines. A dream in black and white.

And I found a pencil, few untouched sheets of water colour painting, and after my morning walk with my dog, I thought I would sketch what I saw.

… It had been decades since I had sketched with a pencil. In my teenage years I used to favour charcoal drawing over oil. And it was always freehand, with a starting point that leads itself to lines. And I just followed the moment, almost as a diary.

Atop this post is the first sketch I made. It ended up a man, perhaps in biblical attire, leaning against a tree. And then, as I thought I had felt in my dream, memories of people past surrounded the man and the tree.

I took another sheet, and this time it was a woman that appeared. The interesting part was that the visit of “people past” continued, suggesting that my dream was about memories. Ethereal yet undefined.

 

Finally, I recalled a portraiture I had made using a 1948 Rolleiflex TLR camera. Among the countless portraits I have captures, this one remains a true representative of what vintage, uncoated and unpretentious lenses can do. The detail of the Irish wool coat and the fluidity of the cloudy evening remain a testimony of the joy medium format film can capture.

In some way it was a pencil drawing. It was the cloudiness of what charcoal can give to an untouched white sheet. It was simplicity in black and white.

 

…I was surprised but happy that the humble pencil still felt comfortable in my fingers after a lifetime of exploring various other modes of expression.

 

August 7, 2026

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2026