Herd Expansion

The ghost images of more animals accomplished in todays few minutes. To acheive this I start with a large chunk of charcoal and a stiff bristle paintbrush and simply scrub off powder onto the area of the animal outline. Next I smudge and repeat until each one is roughed in.

20 Years from now? 30?

I wonder what my son is going to think of me. What I tried to do, what I accomplished and what I squandered. His name is Kane, he's 8. Wonderful, bright kid, the light of my life. These efforts I make, these smudges. Will they prevail over time? Will he smile at the thought or shake his head? His old man, working away making picture frames for who knows who. Mundane work compared to his dreams. In between, he makes some scratches and scribbles. Dreaming.

Will he feel sorry, proud, inspired? Will he look at my work and wonder what my thoughts and feelings were? What my vision was? Will he be able to connect with the intention, the inspiration, what drove me? I think these things as he sleeps innocently, peacefully. My hope is that he will understand. He will be able to know... somehow what I was trying to acheive, to express, to say with lines and textures. My deepest desire is that he'll think to himself... yeah Dad, I get what you were about. I get who you were. I'm proud.

Planned Spontaneity

I haven't touched this drawing since my last posting but have been looking it over carefully. This particular bison intrigues me a great deal. What has happened is precisely what I've been striving for for a long time. After a minimal degree of smudging and only a few strokes of vine charcoal I was left with this. Now I'm trying to avoid the temptation to fuss with it. That was the lesson I tried to learn with the elk piece I recently completed.

I think instead of barging right in I'll contemplate this awhile. I'm learning that to maintain a minimalist approach takes a great amount of forethought and planning. Is there such a thing as effortless effort? Can spontaneity be carefully planned and if so is it still spontaneous? I think too much me thinks.

6/10ths

This full shot gives an idea of the size of the drawing, it measure 48"x 24". That has become rather standard for me. Actually the next two planned after this will be that same size. I love working large and being able to appreciate the work from across the room instead of just feet away. The small print is the new arrangement made from the study done back in 2002.

Once the remaining bison are roughed in I'll work on the river and grass. The reflection and smoothness of the waters surface will pose a particular challenge to achieve on the texture. The final touch will be adding the main subject of the work. So far so good.

A Three Bison Surge

Roughed in a few more bison today. This photo shows the messy process. I let the drawing panel with the texture have it's way for the most part.

Once the finger smudging is over I use vine charcoal to add some detail. This is the point where it's easy to over work the piece and lose the spontaneity I'm attempting to maintain. Next step is to pick out highlights with a kneaded erasure.

2 1/2

Another stolen moment today to rough in a bit more. Nice to have somthing new on the drawing board. Perhaps I can pick up the pace this weekend. My favorite aspect of this piece is the strong light from the setting sun as it highlights the shedding animals. They lose large wads of winter coat each season to expose a smooth undercoat that's evident on the back hip of this first one. Interesting contrasts and patterns will emerge as this develops.

Contradiction is Balance

I finally had a few minutes this afternoon to rough in the beginning of the bison drawing I recently posted adjustments to. It has been many years since I first did the initial study and feel that I can finally do justice to the work. It has been so long since I've gotten my fingers blackened with charcoal that I forgot what pure joy my work is for me. The lapse of time in between drawings illustrates the nature of the demands on my time.

My work is both bane and salvation for my soul. When I'm unable to work I suffer, when I draw I'm totally blissed. Odd contradiction. A song writer once observed that 'contradiction is balance'. Anyone know the song or musician?

New Arrangements

This is a detail from a drawing I had nearly completed. Through the entire work I didn't have positive feelings about the composition. It was subconscious to a degree because I'd spent so much time working out the position of the two osprey I couldn't understand why it just didn't feel right. I finally decided to shelve the project after my wife admitted it just wasn't engaging her. I respect her opinion because she is a talented graphic artist and has a good eye for composition.

Recently I've been rearranging a bison study I made several years ago. I felt it was a strong work but still wanted to take it further. I call this the incubation period. It can take years sometimes. Songwriters often rearrange their well known songs to wonderful affect and I greatly enjoy them. I figured that I could do this to my drawings and feel that's the reason for studies in the first place. A few months ago I posted 'before' and 'after' compositions but have adjusted it even further since then.

The osprey nest has also been redesigned and will come back to the table in a new format soon. First comes the bison design which I've just finished preparing a drawing panel for. Over the next few weeks I hope to get it underway providing that responsibilities allow as they have eaten all my time over the past few months.

"Scavenger"

When you are hungry you take what you can get. A lone wolf can rarely if ever take down a full grown bull elk so one that has fallen to natural causes is a good find during a harsh winter. This work went rather quickly, only 4 hours perhaps. That four hours has been spread over several weeks but four never the less. Glad to have this wrapped up and anxious to start a new project.

Original Drawing by Luke

I received a very special gift today! A young man named Luke, who is 6 years old made this drawing after he watched me working at a recent arts festival. He even chose my favorite subject and my favorite medium. I'm so pleased. Thank you Luke!

This thoughtful gift came at a good time for me. I've been busy dealing with everyday realities of business and raising a family as well as participating in our global pandemic. Today was the first I've been back on my feet in a while and Luke's gift was very welcome indeed.

Be thoughtful of how you interact with people, especially our young friends because we rarely fully understand the impact we may have on others. It pleases me to know that Luke enjoyed watching me draw enough to do his very own work and to share it with me. I know a good picture framer... I believe I'll hang this in my studio.