Female image. Sketch 1975

This is a sketch of a face, made with ink on paper by Hryhorii Havrylenko. It’s all about the line, isn’t it? Just a few confident strokes, and suddenly, there’s a face looking back at you. I love how Havrylenko isn’t trying to be perfect here. The lines wobble a little, they’re not exactly symmetrical. It’s like he’s feeling his way around the form, letting the drawing emerge through the act of doing. You can see it in the mouth, which feels solid, like a deliberate action, compared to the eye. That fluidity is where the magic happens. It reminds me of Matisse’s line drawings, that same sense of capturing the essence of something with the fewest possible marks. It’s a reminder that art isn’t about perfection. It’s about process, and about finding your own way of seeing the world.