Monday, June 29, 2009

Drawing with Edna

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil and pastel on Strathmore 2ply rag Bristol

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil and pastel on Strathmore 2ply rag Bristol

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil and pastel on Strathmore 2ply rag Bristol

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil and pastel on Strathmore 2ply rag Bristol

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil and pastel on Strathmore 2ply rag Bristol

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil and pastel on Strathmore 2ply rag Bristol

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil and pastel on Strathmore 2ply rag Bristol

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil and pastel on Strathmore 2ply rag Bristol

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil and pastel on Strathmore 2ply rag Bristol

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil and pastel on Strathmore 2ply rag Bristol

Edna Casman and I got together to draw at her studio the last two weeks.  We felt the sessions were very productive.  The first five drawings are from June 18, and second five are from June 25.  Is more color showing itself? 

I remind the rare reader once again, there is no premeditation here.  We alternate first moves.  For example, in the last drawing, Edna led with a pink sigmoid curve over the left side.  I added some black marks, and I followed up with an erasure through the marks to keep the line of pink motion.  Edna replied with some blue tadpoles at the top left corner.  This left an open field on the right.  Into that field I marched some lines of varying length making for Edna’s tadpoles trapped or hidden by the red sigmoid ridge.  Seeing my advancing lines, Edna reinforced the tadpoles, giving their heads a color, which revealed their allegiance to the left side, but more toward blue.  In a brilliant flanking move, Edna then added reinforcements to the tadpoles in the lower left.  I had no choice.  To hold my position in front of the reinforced red ridge, I added some circles in front of my marching lines to take the brunt of her return fire.  She supplemented the lower left with menacing, small sharp shapes turning her red ridge into a waiting serpent.  I countered by camouflaging my circles with blue and head faking with some empty blue circles.  Then we signed it.  It was all over in about eight minutes.

Posted by Chuck at 05:09:53 | Permalink | No Comments »

Friday, March 6, 2009

New Grandchild

Baby Eric, 14.5″ x 11.5″ (37cm x 29cm), charcoal pencil on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol

Baby Eric, 11.5″ x 14.5″ (37cm x 29cm), charcoal pencil on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol

Cathy and I went to Houston, Texas, USA, last week to see our new grandchild, Eric, born February 14.  Mother and child are doing fine.  This is our third grandchild.
Posted by Chuck at 03:24:00 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Friday, February 20, 2009

Drawing with Edna

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (24cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil and pastel on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (24cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil and pastel on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (24cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil and pastel on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (24cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil and pastel on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol

We made the four drawings above on February 12.  We are a little restless with the drawing.  We are probing, looking to expand the imagery.
Posted by Chuck at 03:11:35 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Drawing with Edna

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil & pastel on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol

Detail of the Preceeding Drawing

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil & pastel on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil & pastel on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil & pastel on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil & pastel on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol

Untitled Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), charcoal pencil & pastel on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol

Sketch for the Preceeding Drawing, 24″ x 18″ (61cm x 46cm), charcoal pencil and pastel on paper

Edna and I have done six drawings over the last two sessions, July 10 and July 17.  I’ve started to include at least one detail of a drawing.  The digital images don’t justice to the quality of the lines and subtlety of the erasures.  When we work in the morning, we’re not just warming up, but seeing what kind of imagery surfaces.  Usually we carry some of those ideas into the afternoon.  Sometimes we enlarge on the ideas in a morning drawings.  Sometimes we a take a whole drawing and redo it.  The last drawing above is one such morning drawing, which we reworked in the afternoon.  We saw two problems with the morning drawing.  The first was the round shape in the center.  The second was the weak connection between the drawing’s left and right sides.  We eliminated the center round shape and added a few more round shapes to get a relationship between the left and right sides.  The line toward the center with acute angle creates an incomplete vertically oriented oblong shape to its left improving the relationship between the drawing’s left and right sides.
Posted by Chuck at 06:08:11 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Drawing with Edna

Untitled Drawing (Flower Portfolio), 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm),
black Pastel and charcoal pencil on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol

Untitled Drawing (Flower Portfolio), 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm),
black Pastel and charcoal pencil on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol

These drawings are from a session Edna Casman and I had almost two weeks ago. Last week’s session produced several interesting ideas, but nothing we’d put our names to.

Posted by Chuck at 03:30:33 | Permalink | Comments (2)