Hallucinogenic Sketches 1968-9

In my pre-diploma year I first experimented with drawing under the influence of hallucinogens. I would buy a new A2 layout pad and on a weekend take the drug, usually when I was alone, and then draw until I ran out of paper. I preferred Wolfe’s carbon pencils for this, sometimes the marks seemed to magically flow out of the pencil without my involvement, I didn’t know what would appear so it was a surprise. I did not do it often, but it taught me a profound lesson in making my marks more expressive and improved my regular drawing no end. Sometimes the drawings were childlike and regressive, sometimes humorous or erotic and sometimes they were underpinned by a philosophical insight that the drug gave me.