converse
watercolor on paper, 9 x 12"
This drawing seemed like a good response to Mindy's last one as the clean lines that defined the various separate flowers and leaves of this rose plant became channels that bled into one another in an organic and gentle manner.
snakegrass, 9" x 12", ink and pencil on paper
I was very interested in the way in which the watercolor wash in Carianne's last drawing was both uncontrolled (the mixing of the wet pigment) and controlled (the wash itself was a particular shape). For some reason this way of working seemed suddenly such a beautiful expression of the simultaneous comingling of the two ways of working. Here, my ink wash takes the shape of snakegrass, while within the wash, colors mingle and move in an uncontrolled manner.
still (moving)
watercolor on paper, 9 x 12"
This drawing is in response to Mindy's last post and in following my instinct to work with text at the moment. It began as a plein air painting of some incredible green pollen pooled up at the edge of the pond in my backyard. The shapes were constantly in motion as I watched the water. I enjoy how the spontaneous text merges and interacts with the image, on the brink of being unreadable with movement of the gravity affected watercolor.
grounded, concrete 6" x 9", graphite and ink on paper
In response to Carianne's drawing, I thought about the idea of being settled, or placed. My eye was attracted to the rough broken surface of the concrete on our back porch. I thought of Zen haiku that are written uniformly about anything that is perceived, like a flower, and then a pile of poop, without judgment. I made a rubbing of the concrete, and then used text as a label or decorative element. This was all done very quickly, which is unusual for me. I enjoyed the Zen-inspired spontaneity of it.
clearing
watercolor on paper 9 x 12"
This drawing is in celebration of being back to our blog after a month or so of moving, moving, moving. Since I have been painting natural objects a lot lately, I wanted to shift gears a bit with today's post, going back to some of the text based drawings I posted about a year ago. Despite the formal differences, I think this drawing is very related to Mindy's last post. It has the same ingredients, but they are mixed in a different order. Similar themes we have bounced around in the past are here; patience + delicacy vs. speed and spontaneity. Imagery aside, watercolor itself as a medium contains so much content for me. Space, clarity, natural phenomena...
ficus, 12" x 12", graphite and ink on paper
My first drawing here in my new home. I bought a house and moved, and I am very aware that much of my work is derived in some way from the visual experience that surrounds me at home. I began to attune my compass to this new environment by studying this ficus plant that sits in my new living room. It began as a careful contour drawing, and then ink was applied loosely.
pool
watercolor and graphite on paper 18 1/8 x 24"
Mindy's last drawing had a feeling of either a coming together or a disintegration, depending on what you focused on. This image came from a photo I took this afternoon in the rain of a puddle in my driveway reflecting a tree in my neighbors yard. I think it also feels like an image arranging itself into recognition, or just being scattered. I loved how this solid tree was so delicate in its reflection...any little rain drop shook it into a blur. The grid was purely functional as I enlarged the drawing from a small photo... though, I thought it created that poignant concept of organic vs. geometric that has been sprinkling through our recent conversations.
transition, 10" x 10", graphite and ink on paper
Another look at the window motif - here the subject is the window itself, and the pattern of ice that formed on it during a snowstorm. Looking through the glass and ice on an early morning, I again see this color that I am inextricably attracted to lately - a muted blue/green. I also incorporated the grid, an element that was present in Carianne's drawings in December. Here, I used the grid as a methodical approach to the drawing, filling each square one by one with an ink wash, and letting the edges of the wash dry to form a boundary between the squares. The title refers to the transition between the color and white, as well as the transition between winter and spring, morning and daylight, and the transition of moving that I am beginning to embark on in my life.
feels like sunshine
gouache on rice paper 17 x 20"
This is the Connecticut version of Mindy's last window drawing. I sat down to work today very early in my studio and the sun was absolutely blasting through my window, so much so that it negated all the shapes I was planning on drawing outside of my neighborhood. The organic and rectilinear edges are all silhouettes of stuff on my studio drawing table. The yellow gouache is about the same value as the warm delicate rice paper so the image almost disappears in some lights.
window, house, tree, sky
12" x 12", pencil and ink on rice paper
It seems that many of the things that Carianne and I have been talking about made their way into this drawing: geometric / organic; effort / ease; natural / built. I used Carianne's motif of looking out the window from her last drawing to compose this one. This is a familiar view out the window of my living room, an image I encounter every day when practicing yoga in that room. I was interested in the way in which the pieces of the sky are cut into geometric shapes by the branches, the roof of the house next door, and even the central bar of the window. Since the drawing is on rice paper, I needed to find a balance between controlling the flow of the ink, and allowing it to bleed into the porous paper. I also love this color blue - first thing in the morning on a clear day in February.
