Drawing from You and Me

Mindy's Drawing from 1/28/08

Betweenings, 14" x 17", Gouache on vellum, over ink on paper

A drawing that I have been working on the past week or so, this is a more detailed and planned drawing than I've posted yet. I was interested in what Carianne was doing with the vellum, a material that I love and haven't used in a while. The image is of a forest, specifically the negative spaces between the branches of two trees. The image is backlit, so that the negative spaces become bright, and the positive are silhouettes. I am surprised and interested by the sort of crumpling that occurred as the gouache dried; it creates a shimmering effect on the surface.

Carianne's Drawing from 1/23/08

the best I can do
watercolor, tracing paper, graphite, and gouache on paper 18 1/8 x 24"





This drawing is somewhat of a reverse of yesterdays. I started out trying to record the lines and pull the colors from the tangle of willow branches on my studio table, and later creating the grid, which was both a mechanical and instinctive process. I am falling in love with tracing paper--the torn edges and delicacy. Though, I have a giant inexpensive roll of it, so it does not seem so precious. It is laying in tatters around my studio like fallen leaves and almost seems tough... routine... inevitable.

Carianne's Drawing from 1/22/08

thought vs. felt
graphite, watercolor, tracing paper and gouache on paper 18 1/8 x 24"

This drawing is a different take on some of the processes I experimented with yesterday. The colors on the grid behind the tracing paper were extracted from a pile of all the detritus I drew separately yesterday. The hues were observed and plotted out in the grid based on roughly where they fell in the still life. The gouache on the surface of the tracing paper was approached in a much more intuitive manner. I am finding myself wanting to work with vibrant color lately being in the midst of a gray-ish New England winter. I have noticed this in the past before--what is mixed up on my palette has a direct relationship, in some way, to the environment I find myself in.

Carianne's Drawings from 1/21/08

This is a series of twelve drawings little piles, each 6 x 8" watercolor, tracing paper, graphite and gouache on Nujabi paper.

I was inspired to make these today after seeing Mindy's drawing of the blanket--just this little thing she noticed nearby and was compelled to use as a subject. These drawings are from the small piles of organic debris that have been strewn around my studio the past couple weeks that I was similarly drawn to. I started them by making a contour drawing on tracing paper. At first I was planning on making them without color, but they were too beautiful, so I extracted the colors from each pile and recorded them loosely on the watercolor paper. Glue seemed too heavy to attach the two papers, so they are sewn together. I think the last move of using the gouache was motivated by a show I saw this week at Real Art Ways in Hartford, Shadow Show. Some of the work in the show was about revealing subtleties in the world around us, and I wanted to bring some of the color back to the foreground of the drawing. Also, in Mindy's blanket drawing, she used some thin colored lines in what appears to be an intuitive fashion.

Mindy's Drawing from 1/10/08

just a white blanket

graphite, gesso and colored pencil on paper, 12" x 15"

I was reading an article by lucian freud. He said, "The painter must give a completely free reign to any feelings or sensations he may have and reject nothing to which he is naturally drawn." Freud made paintings very different from mine, but I was struck by this. This is a drawing of a blanket sitting on my couch in the sun, much like Carianne's cat. It is just a white blanket, but somehow very interesting.

Carianne's Drawing from 1/10/08

esta
graphite, watercolor and gouache on paper 4 x 6"

A sketch of my cat as she peacefully slept amidst jumbled blankets. I was looking around my apartment for something I considered fragile in response to Mindy's drawing, and was struck by how small and gentle this creature seemed in my sometimes chaotic environment. Light fell in clear lines across her.

Mindy's Drawing from 1/9/08

yet still...there is always more

15" x 22" , graphite, ink, latex, acrylic, and found paint swatches on paper

In a not uncommon sort of synchronicity for Carianne and I, as she was describing her week of sorting and piling objects in her home, I started to look around my home and take photos. This drawing came out of that photo shoot, containing a lamp and chair from my living room. I was also interested in her collage, and in drawing something fragile, and then partially concealing it under white paint. Here, the white paint took on a life of its own, revealing, concealing, and then building up in a textural way, as though the chair may have a hidden life.

Carianne's Drawings from 1/8/08

This is a series of seven drawings, each 12 x 7 3/4" on Nujabi paper, watercolor, graphite, sharpee, acrylic, and collage.

advanced white

impossible to fold

i love rock and roll

directories

shhh...

everyday

invisible solid

This series is reflective of my past seven days moving, unpacking, sorting, discarding, selling a car, and writing a 100-page promotion application for my work. Massive upheaval and expansive clearing. I feel like my creative process often involves developing a beautiful mess in an unselfconscious manner, then organizing it consciously into something with form and substance that speaks to me in a poignant and poetic way. I was living this process the past week and felt like even though I was not making drawings, I could have been doing a performance as I heaved boxes and sat, deciding, amongst miscellaneous mountains of stuff.

Carianne's Drawing from 1/1/08

even in the snow
graphite and watercolor on paper 18 1/8 x 24"

I took an early new year's day snowstorm hike up a mountain this morning, and was struck by the organic yet striated dark rocky cliffs at the top catching the white snow on one side. This drawing was meticulously enlarged, using a grid, from a photo I took. The geometry is apparent if you notice the graphite behind the watercolor, but also the grid quietly emerges due to the process of drawing each section with varying values of paint and differing drying times. It is somewhat fitting that I used a jumbo sized brush despite all the detail given some of the recent dichotomies Mindy and I have been exploring... boundary, expansion... pattern, disintegration...