Chuck Paints

Untitled Flower Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), black pastel on Strathmore rag 2 ply Bristol

 Untitled Flower Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), black pastel on Strathmore rag 2 ply Bristol

Edna and I got together to draw last Friday, June 15th.  Edna reported that she had several dreams about drawing the previous week.  The drawing took a different turn, as you can see.  The top drawing was done upside down from the way I’ve shown it.  We thought it was ho-hum, until we turned it upside down giving us a funny runaway cactus.  Then we did this “thicket.”  One of the important benefits of being an artist is that every day I walk into my studio, I’m not sure what is going to happen.  Every day offers a suprise.  We will get together tomorrow for some more surprises. 

Untitled Flower Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), black pastel on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol

Untitled Flower Drawing, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58cm), black pastel on Strathmore 2 ply rag Bristol

Last Wednesday Edna and I got together for another day of drawing.  We only did two good drawings in the afternoon, because we had just two sheets left.  The local art supply stores were out.  Artisans had twelve sheets sent down from their Taos store, but they won’t have them until next Thursday.  Motion Industries only had two bearings when I needed six.  They won’t be in until next Wednesday.  When businesses have computers to keep track of their inventories, how can they be out of merchandise? 

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

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

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

Last Friday, June 1st, Edna and I got together for another day of drawing.  This was our third session doing flowers.  For me the flower drawings have an added dimension over the earlier drawings. In our earlier drawings each of us only had to respond to each other’s marks. Now the marks, in some way, must evoke the idea of “flowerness.” We both noticed that if the idea of the flower is paramount, we do indeed get flower drawings, but none of the excitement we think we achieved in the first set of drawings. We have decided to work to keep the mark making the most important idea as we draw. The results are more interesting and engaging.

We are not working from actual flowers, but this time of year in Albuquerque, New Mexico, flowers, cultivated and wild, are everywhere, especially as there was a good snow pack this winter and some rain four or five weeks ago.

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Untitled, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58 cm), black pastel on Strathmore rag 2 ply Bristol

Untitled, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58 cm), black pastel on Strathmore rag 2 ply Bristol

Untitled, 29″ x 23″ (74cm x 58 cm), black pastel on Strathmore rag 2 ply Bristol

Edna and I have gotten together to draw twice so far during May. We will get together again later this week. These three drawings are from May 16. In the morning session when we were recklessly covering paper with spontaneous marks, some flowers popped up, or, maybe, I should say blossomed. We decided to see where they would go to. These are three of the four finished drawings we did that day. A week later we did four more.

We sold a fourth drawing from the Art Is…Ok Gallery exhibition. We take that show down the day after tomorrow.