Project #1: (2nd Update)

Dealing with issues of space, value and hierarchy and what they equate in terms of meaning/symbol.

Project #1 (in progress)

Above, the extended sketch.

Finally, I got restless and started the drawing on the Rives, below.

Starting on the blank page is the hardest part.  You think: "I'm going to mar this perfect surface...it had better be worth it.  Sometimes it isn't.  Negotiating the illusion of space is also tricky. There's a fine balance and I usually go over the line (which is why, in the past, I had to use the gesso).

*We are Floating in Space*

Graphite and Sharpie in Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook.

Yes, I know. Floating heads.  But these are floating heads on purpose.

This is the planning sketch in my Moleskine. There is a slight disconnect between the graphical ideas I have for my walls and the work I consider my "serious" art, but who's to say how I will bridge this gap (or do I want to?)  I had conceived of this as a diptych: R likes the the shared gaze, and I do too.  The title has personal significance (as to how we met).

Project #1

I have always loved old photographs...even when they are not of your own immediate family, use them in your artwork, and people will assume that they are related to you.  This happened a lot during senior thesis at MICA; after being initially annoyed, I began to think that there was some eloquence in returning some kind of identity to these forgotten souls (most of these photographs were purchased at thrift stores, and it was sad to realize that there was no one else for them to belong to.

My brother Ronnie bought a whole cigar box of photographs years ago, and last week suggested he and I do a "collaborative" project focused on these photos.  This is the first photo.  He and I will do a separate drawing of the same image, and then compare/contrast.  Ronnie and I both went to MICA, and both worked in charcoal on paper, doing drawings based on photographic imagery, but we have different styles, so this should be interesting.

I am fascinated with space and transparency and layers, memory and houses, and will use graphite (for detail) and charcoal for defining space and depth on the velvety surface of Rives BFK.  I will be more judicious about said surface: time was when I would gesso over EVERYTHING.

Here, I have laid out an initial sketch in my moleskine....I never used to plan anything, and it's not that this will be an exact lift...things may change. In fact, I'm betting on it.

Rites of Passage (in progress, fifth state)

Rites of Passage (in progress, fourth state)