A Day in the Life of one Artist

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CHUCK:  I think about seven of these drawings are from the last two weeks, February 4 and 11.  The rest are from earlier in 2010.  Drawing 5 and 6 are intended as a pair.  These are inspired from the a child’s ladder drawing.

We have a category that we call “Predator/Prey.”  The first and last drawing would probably fall into that category.  The requirement is that something looks like an aggressor, and something else looks like something about to be eaten.  Sometime there is a witness.  In the first drawing, the spiney, tentacular object in the upper right is the aggressor.  The amoeba-like thing at the bottom is the probable target.  Some way, somehow the other thing looks like it can take care of itself.  Perhaps, in the last drawing the predator in the middle is just cruising.  It does have an ugly overbite.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

EDNA Casman and I did the ten drawings above over our last three sessions, September 3, 8 and 15.  The first three represent more efforts to have the focus of the drawing toward a side edge.  The first two have a composition that amounts to a triangle pointing into the picture.  This gives the feeling that the empty space is about to be occupied.  The third is a little different.  Here the figure appears to be walking into or being pushed into the empty space.  The last drawing is an interesting attempt to salvage an unsatisfactory drawing by mostly covering it up.  The lower right triangle and the oval were part to the original drawing.  Here, we conducted the search for the drawing by erasing it with color, very low chroma colors, but color still.  By controlling the amount of color pastel in the coloring-out layer or erasing into the coloring-out layer, or fixing some of the underlying passages, we arrived at this solution.  In nearly all our previous drawings, except for the silver drawings, we have been content to leave the white of the paper as background.  In this drawing the uncovered paper could be read as foreground to the action in the drawing.  The uncovered paper could also be background to the drawing, which descends from above like a curtain, although we left the upper right uncovered to make that interpretation less certain.  We are very fond of uncertain interpretations.