The Latice

Colored Pencil on Paper.

Safety Goggles

A distinctly menacing presence...

Flag in the Corner

Back to the Beginning

Looking at trees through the window. Also, drawing in one's notebook is, I think the most fundamental means of creating something. I mean, everybody at least doodles while they are on the phone, right?

Morning Glories and Cosmos

What my garden looks like to a camera:


What my garden looks like like to me:

Moon Rising/Light and Dark Pastel Drawing on Grey Paper

Jasmine Tea Leaves Spilling Out

Study of Pineapple Skin

Pen Hand Drawings

The classic hand drawing exercise.

The First Creative Work in a Long Time

For quite awhile, "studio time" has consisted of going down to the basement room we (my housemates and I) call the studio, journaling a bit in order to settle in, choosing a subject, and then drawing the subject. This has been a useful practice. It means that I am making something on a regular basis, it helps to establish the habit of observing and recording, and it helps me learn to look at the world as an artist.
The piece posted above is something more than my habitual drawing. It is a synthesis of various elements from some of the past weeks' drawings. It is inspired by the way the leaves look like sails, the tail of a beet popping out at me, the foreshortened leaves of an onion, a clear day, and the hard outlines/soft gradient of Botticelli paintings.
To me, this counts as creative work in a different way than does drawing. It is the expression of the internalized impressions that were the result of the drawing process. The stepping back, reflecting, and making something new is one more step in the creative process than observational drawing.
Also, this was my observational drawing today: Cars Parked at a Park.

Botticelli Faces

Copied from Botticelli book:

Leaves

CSA Art (aka. Veggies)

The Smooth Trunk

Angel Panel

Morning in the studio began with me falling asleep over my journal. Feeling quite uninspired, I did some large scale, spontaneous, non-dominant hand drawing. (See bottom picture.) One of the creatures in the drawing reminded me of the many eyed creature in one of the Old Testament prophetic books. I have heard of it referred to as an "angel." It has often struck me that whenever people see an angel in the bible, they are terrified. Yet, the depiction of angels in popular art is anything but frightening. I have always liked the description of the many-eyed (plus many wheeled) angel in the Old Testament. The clay panel was inspired by this image.

Rusty Lock

Fifteen minutes to draw. Pick something simple and sculptural it of the toolbox. Scribble, scribble, scribble, and...

From the Roof, 8 AM

Things That Overlap

Observation and Abstraction

The original drawing from observation:


Abstraction from original drawing using a compass:


A few years ago, I studied wood carving with an old Greek woodcarver. His specialty was iconostasis for Greek Orthodox churches. The iconostasis were made up of designs that were primarily geometric or abstractions from nature. Each element had specific steps necessary to carve it correctly, steps that had been passed down from teacher to student for who knows how long. One of the things I learned from my wood carving class was that if I wanted to become a wood carver, a good one, I would need to spend an enormous amount of time learning all the motifs in all the different major styles of wood carving - from European Baroque to all the styles of used in the iconostasis my teacher carved. The other thing I learned was that I missed the creative process I mainly used in college: Receive a visual objective and then apply all my knowledge to coming up with a unique way of accomplishing that objective. The "coming up with things" was what I missed. So, this little project this morning is my own brief and humble tribute to both the traditional decorative motifs and the creative process.