The daily dose of art FAVORITE PENCIL DRAWINGS

The first drawing - Oops - was done in the mid 1970s, the second drawing was done 3 years ago.

The daily dose of art WITHOUT RHYME OR REASON

Today's theme is "Scattered".

PENCIL DRAWING

ACRYLIC LANDSCAPE

MIXED MEDIA DRAWING

WATERCOLOR

SUNDAY BARN #129

Something old and something new this Sunday morning.

Something Old - small sketch from 2-3 years ago

Something new - pencil sketch completed yesterday

SUNDAY BARN #118

Several weeks ago I picked up the pencil instead of the paint brush and the result was one more rendering of this iconic barn somewhere in Livingston County.  I've lost track of the number of times I've painted and drawn this structure that never ceased to fascinate me.

Livingston Co. Barn

Pencil on paper

approximately 9x12"

PEOPLE, NOT PLACES, part 3

Drawn from memory after seeing a local stage production of The Man from La Mancha

Fun with dots

PEOPLE - NOT PLACES

More drawings from the 1970s, before I turned all my attention to the built environment.

Being in between

is how I feel right now, a familiar place that appears after the completion of every sustained effort.  In this case, the Barns and Farms show which has been front and center in my life for the past three or four months.  The let down is a natural phenomenon, one I've experienced time and time again; it will soon pass and I'll be on to the next project.

In the meantime, it is always possible to find things to do in the studio...clean, write, draw, read, and of course, nap, nothing major, just simple, but rewarding work that keeps me from feeling totally useless.

This may be an appropriate time to visit an excerpt from Have I Told You Today That I Love You.

LEARN TO RECOGNIZE THE EBB and FLOW OF YOUR LIFE

There is at least a little wisdom in the cliché, “Go with the flow”.  The human psyche is subject to the same cyclic or periodic variations that are so evident in the world around us; we all experience the ups and downs in our emotional life with varying regularity, sometimes predictable and some times not.  By learning to listen to yourself you can begin to recognize similar patterns as they effect all aspects of your emotional or spiritual life...enthusiasm, sadness, the availability of creative energy, ambition, imagination, etc.  Knowing this, it is possible to avoid wasting a great deal of time and energy trying to work against the tide, waiting instead for a more receptive time.

B & W and color all over

 Smedley-Yeiser house...markers, ink, pastel...8x10"

 Lowertown boatyard...markers...6x9

Coast guards...pencil...8x10

Just the pencil

 I am enjoying working on these small pencil drawings.  They require constant attention to values, and composition is always important, but especially when working with a vignette format.  I use a range of graphite from 6B to 6H (B= darkness, and H= lightness).  I also work with four carbon pencils, 6B, 4B, 2B, and B.  They leave a darker marker than their graphite cousins.

 Pump house...pencil...8x10"

Small shed and Barn...pencil (graphite and carbon)...8x10"

I'm not sure that using both graphite and carbon on the same drawing is a good idea.  I need more experience to work this out.

With just the pencil...

Putting aside the pen and ink, the markers, the pastels, and the watercolors, I began to focus entirely on the pencil.  This has been tugging at me for several weeks now, and yesterday I decided to act on it.

 Pencil drawing...4x6"  abandoned barn on west 62

Pencil drawing...5x7"

THE ART OF PADUCAH

It seems like I'm spending as much time in the kitchen as in the studio lately, which is good for my spirits if not my waistline.

However I'm still working out there, just on a smaller scale. The acrylics have been put away for awhile, replaced by pencils, pens, and ink. My latest project is the creation of an iBook of paintings and drawings of Paducah, combining old work with new drawings. I hope to be able to announce a "publication date" soon.

BEFORE THE PAINT

there was pencil, pen, and ink. In my year end browsing through old portfolios and files I've found these old drawings, done before I began exploring color, first with markers and later with watercolor.


tree done with sepia pen

pen, brush, and ink.



pen and ink



pencil drawing...9th St. Market in Philly

I enjoy looking back on old work, seeing how my art has evolved. There are things I can do now that were not possible in those early years, but there was a freedom and freshness then that is easily lost in the more elaborate studio paintings. It was fun to see some of this recaptured in the clay drawings from the Italian experience.

THE SIXTIES REVISITED

For me the sixties meant medical school, internship, residency and 2 years in the USN medical corps serving with the 2nd Marine Air Wing in Cherry Point NC. What little discretionary time I had was spent catching up on sleep and apparently drawing.





It has been fun browsing through these drawings, remembering how much I enjoyed the pencil, and the figure.