Serpentine, 2008, graphite dust, 9B woodless pencil, with 4H pencil, 14 x 11
Smoke, February, 2009, graphite dust, 9B woodless pencil, with HB, 2H and 4H pencil, 14 x 11
I very often return to black and white pencil drawings to work out my vision...keeping it simple without the complication of color, working on marks, shapes, textures...
They're as simple as far as just using pencil, but they're mighty complex...some a little busier than others...
A little bit of this and a little bit of that...these three mixed media drawings are all works on paper, a heavily brushed white acrylic foundation, with a mix of Derwent Graphitint pencils and watercolor, graphite, colored pencil, and extra splashes of acrylic as needed...
Luna, 2/7/2009, mixed media, 6 1/2" x 6 1/2"...I had to follow through on a bit of the color that went sneaking under the tape into the margin...there's a part of me still slightly dissatisfied with it...I won't be surprised if I go back to it to "make it right"...which is very likely...I'll keep you posted...
The Bones of the Earth, A Suite of Field Stone Impressions 2/21/09, mixed media, 8 x 5, ...the foundation for this one was originally posted on 2/8/09 (inspired by last weeks post from my other Blog Upstate Girl, Studying Stones.)
Elemental Suite, from the Shining Sea, 2/20/09, mixed media, 14 x 11 (originally posted on 1/4/09). I didn't do a whole lot more to it, I just needed to leave it alone for awhile...it's not my favorite piece overall, there's elements in it that I really love when I take them separately...
Well, after a flurry of splatters and scratches yesterday afternoon, I signed my name in the lower left corner...I think it's done...I might tip-toe through it with a touch or two here and there, but I do declare it's done...
My Fred and I delivered artwork at the Delavan Art Gallery this week...thought I'd post a few pictures of the "friends" that I have parted with...organized by smallest to largest...
Twilight, Black and Gold, 4/21/2007, pencil and colored pencil, framed 9 x 9
The Eighth, 2008, watercolor, colored pencil, pencil on Stonehenge paper, framed 12 x 12
Celestial Sliver of Time I, May 31, 2008, mixed media (watercolor, pastel, gouache, acrylic, and pencil) on Strathmore watercolor paper, framed 22 x 12
Natural Chaos and Order, Composition in Gray and Black, 2008 pencil on gray charcoal paper, framed 20 x 16
A Violin Opus, Allegro - Fuga, 2008, pencil on Bristol paper, framed 20 x 16 (I always think of these more "busy" drawings to be like listening to something by Beethoven...usually I am listening to Beethoven in some form.)
Each one seems to have it's own personality...yet they're all related...I look at each one and remember what was going on at the time, what I was thinking about, and I always marvel over the act of making art...they're personal, and I cannot expect anyone to completely understand them or how I come up with them, they just happen (there I go again, following my own random beat of the drum)...but it is always my hope that the person who is drawn to them will find something meaningful in the marks that I make...
My work in progress is progressing, I'm trying to leave as much of the lovely yellow wash at the top alone...if you haven't noticed, I have a thing for yellow...I spent some of yesterday working on it, sprinkling, splashing, rooting around with a pencil, dipping charcoal in water, getting my fingers very dirty...it felt good to be busy and productive, my stupid cold is finally clearing away, so I feel more like doing things...
I also cleared off a small drafting table in the studio to make room for the production of small things on little bits of scraps...I have several little spaces throughout the house where I do my creative work, and one more little place...or "play station"...won't hurt the creative process....the lamp is temporary until I buy a replacement, the darn thing is wobbly because of poor design so I piled some stones around it to keep it from tumbling off...and of course the lamp shade doesn't fit those newfangled light bulbs...it casts a creepy shadow...(oh yeah, those are my little framed drawings from previous exhibitions hanging around...) One little scrap of paper was pretty sorry looking, so I crumpled it up once, opened it, crumpled it up twice, flattened it out and set it on the drawing board for a bit, scribbled over it with a 9B woodless pencil and then left it...and then laid down the beach stones around it..
Then just before going to bed I went to the living room to turn back the heat, wound up sitting down and added some tinted graphite wash to a white acrylic background that I made in my sketchbook earlier in the evening...who knows where it's going to go...I love the blue...
It's been bitter cold out there...and I've been playing with my camera again...this time, turning window frost into something other than what it is...thought I'd post the progression...initially I was trying to line up the tree branches with the frost, but they weren't cooperating with me and it was getting on toward twilight, so I was starting to lose the light...not all pictures are from the same patch of frost, but all the same window...and I tinkered A LOT with the color saturation and contrast...all for fun...
I especially enjoyed making these last ones...
I'm working on a new large mixed media drawing in the Celestial series, on such a cold weekend, I wanted something bright to warm me up...it's in that early stage, I'm documenting the mess...it's going to be fun...
Mixed media, acrylic, tinted graphite pencils, watercolor, gouache, pencil, colored pencil on Stonehenge paper, approx. 8 x 8"
Detail of texture...the paper has an acrylic/gel medium base with a variety of brushstrokes, splatters, and ridges applied, then I draw and paint on top after it's dried, the colored pencils and tinted graphite are all water-soluble so I scribble the colors over the rough surface and then scumble with a wet brush to create the wash, then more dry media (pencil, colored pencil, tinted graphite), more water as needed, then a splash here, a splash there, pencil lines scratched in...I beat up the surface sometimes...
The stars were out on Friday night just before this latest storm hit us...they were so bright and gorgeous, although it was very cold, I looked at them for as long as I could stand it...Orion was standing over our pine trees...it was all very quiet and beautiful...the Great Horned Owl was hooting across the road...one day I will treat you with a post all about my favorite night paintings by my favorite artists...I've been working on some essay sort of stuff...so, hang in there...
This one turned out a little more blue...it was months in the making, although I "finished" it (signed and dated) on November 30th, I was living with it before I posted (just in case I needed to make adjustments...but no...it seems fine, I had feared that I worked it to death...plus the photo I took of it after I finished it was too dark and awful...and then too much happening between my surgery and the holidays to fool around with another photo...even this one isn't so hot, but the colors are better...
Lots of splatter over the initial blue wash that I made way back in June or July when I started it, there's layers and layers of paint and pastel...very crusty!
I have lots of works in progress over the holiday vacation, but this one has carried on since early December before I had my surgery...and while I worked it, I've been dying to post the pictures, but...haven't because...
I'm still "working on it"...but have tucked it away to think about it...I love it. Really I do, it's doing what I wanted, it's just not done yet. Well, since I write a lot about process, why not show the work in progress...
The heavily textured surface consists of white acrylic paint with an impasto that is splattered, dribbled, and scumbled, then I scribbled graphitint pencils over it, made them soggy, brushed and washed, dabbled and splattered, then when it dried, I started drawing with graphite...I'm loving the surface, and all, but...ummm...I don't know, it's just not finished yet...and that dark fossil-like shell bugs me, even tho' I like it...it's too dark (darn it.) This will be a multiple layer piece before it's done...I have some detail shots too...
It's been a lot of fun making this one...and I'm enjoying the frustration of the struggle with resolving it too...if anything, I've always been patient and have been willing to work out the bugs that are bugging me...
Early Spring Moonlight, 2008, 9 B woodless pencil with white colored pencil, approx. 3 x 3
Nocturnal, July, 2008, 9B woodless pencil, 2H pencil, 4 x 4
Serpentine, 2008, graphite dust, 9B woodless pencil, with 4H pencil, 14 x 11
