drawing required

It was a seed idea.
I assembled my quarry file photos
and looked through the work of Alfred Bricher, Samuel Lancaster Gerry, Johann Hermann Carmiencke, and Kathryn Stats in a document file. Soon it became clear my head was not big enough to juggle all these images. It dawned on me, I needed a DRAWING on paper. I had pencils...not where I could find them...I grabbed a charcoal pencil,

...but ended up drawing with a blue pen for convenience sake.

file photo

That was yesterday.

Today I did some exploratory washes
on 14 x 11 Canson sketch paper.

wash 1

wash 2

wash 3

Then, I decided I should do a split-study

Samuel Lancaster Gerry Calm Pond (oil) 1829

my study of Geary's Calm Pond 7 x 11

Johann Hermann Carmiencke Along the Banks (oil) 1875

my study of Carmienke's Banks 7 x 11

14 x 11 sketch pad

to be continued...

Paint Exercise

breaking myself back in

wanting to move forward with something new

wanting to resume learning

where to start....???

i pull up a favorite location
from a previous photo shoot

crop the image to fit the support

turn it upside down on the computer screen...

...and start dabbing on my easel

this practice opens my mind

loosens my eyes and fingers

throws me into an interpretive mode

this is not about a finished piece

my limited palette
includes
brilliant blue
cerulean blue hue
titanium white
cadmium red light
and alizarin crimson.

i am thinking about placement of shapes

what colors i can mix together
for the values i am looking at

click on triangle to start video

glancing
back and forth
from the computer screen

knowing too many details

will leave the image

unnecessarily busy

snow along Stanley Branch

it is the hard work of painting
trying out hunches
paying attention
being selective
not rushing to cover every mistake
being open to the surprises

click on triangle to start video

two days later

after four hours of work

i turn the painting right side up

hmmmmm.....

the juices are flowing

working title: white on blue
12 x 9 acrylic on watercolor paper

now i am drinking in the image

every time i pass by.................

i do not want to miss
what this color scheme has to offer
....it is too early
to dismiss the passages
that are new to me

the snow along the streets today
have me convinced
the palette i used
was true to what my eyeballs were seeing. wow.

-------------------------------------

a read of the portraiture article
in the American Artist (Feb 2009) magazine

and the emphasis on drawing
that art instructor Bill Lundquist gave

got me thinking

12 x 9 colored pencil 1997
(private collection)

12 x 9 colored pencil 1996
(private collection)

remembering the caricatures I used to do

and portraits of my own face

24 x 18 Diptych charcoal and oil on canvas
senior year in college 1978

could I still pull it off ?
without a preliminary sketch ?

my spouse says
I sketch with the paint brush

set up the mirror
adjust the easel

Self Portrait at 53 years 12 x 9 acrylic on watercolor paper

Yes I can.
it has given me a spark for more.