Journal: An Online Notebook Updated By The Artist
Posts related to Artists
2010-04-13 04:07:00 | Drawing into Painting / Painting into Drawing
(Above) Photograph of drawing table with Landscape in Graphite II (work in progress) 5 x 12", graphite on Fabriano paper. This drawing has been executed in pencil and powdered graphite applied with brushesand water. On the table can be seen a dish of powdered graphite (top center), various weight pencils, a bit of cut plastic eraser and graphite stick (far right), and a dish of water with index card (upper right) on which to mix and test the graphite solution before applying it to the drawing. Drawing into Painting / Painting into Drawing Over the winter I've engaged graphite as a drawing medium, building tone with pencils of various weights from 9H to 9B. I usually start the compositions with very hard lead pencils and then move to darker, softer lead. Sometimes I move back and refine the areas of softer graphite using the harder leads, pressing the material into the surface of the paper. As I develop my image, I tend to smooth out tone with a bit of plastic eraser which evens the surface and cultivates an atmosphere that unifies the composition (Window with Dark Drawing and Open Journal was created in this method). In more recent experiments, I've set the eraser aside, and in doing so I've sensed a different kind of sparkle emerge from the drawing surface. Perhaps more of the white paper shines through on a microscopic level when I refrain from smearing the graphite. And certainly crisper edges and details are possible without smearing. In the end it's probably learning when to smear and when not to smear with the eraser that is the real lesson from employing such a technique. One key element I recognize is that graphite has provided me a springboard for returning to the study of value. In my early drawings black watercolor was my essential medium for investigating ...Read More
2008-06-15 07:47:50 | Finding Forbears
(above) Photograph of the artist copying in his journal at the Ashmolean Musuem, Oxford, England, June 1984. Finding Forbears In June of 1984 my wife, Jenny and I went to England for our honeymoon. We spent a week in London followed by a week driving around the country. We wanted to do something romantic and beautiful for the occasion, but neither of us are travelers so I look back now and imagine we were subconsciously homing in on spiritual forebears. On the trip, I certainly encountered artists who have changed the way I see the world who continue to inspire me with their achievements. Sure, I liked John Constable’s landscapes before our trip, but when we stepped into an exhibition of his small studies at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, I was overwhelmed. Constable communicates a thrill in depicting his world, putting painterly bravura at the service of the humble and commonplace. At Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, I fell in love with Samuel Palmer’s work; I too wanted to invest a small page with mystery. Palmer’s varied mix of pen and ink and watercolor has informed my own drawing technique over the years. During the trip I also became aware of the work of John Martin whose command of scale is breathtaking. You may never feel as tiny as in front of one of Martin’s works. For example, his Creation of Light (see also below) convincingly evokes the immensity of the universe, juxtaposing human form with astronomical. What a master of light! The brightest point in the work is not the depicted sun, moon, or stars. It is the vaguely defined point just to the right of the sun; possibly a reflection off of a cloud bank? Who knows? Such is the imagination of John Martin. (above) Book 130, Charles Ritchie after John Martin, Creation of Light, 2008, ...Read More