As to what? and where? and who? this drawing is about, I leave the guessing to you
I recall this as quite the favorite saying at some point in my childhood. But here beeswax is put to a different use. All the elements in the plate are coated with wax, and are the detritus in the gutter after a spring storm.
The other piece is less obvious, and must be viewed more closely. Pieces of medical gauze drenched in melted beeswax wrap the spheres, which are scarred and marked with smears of brown & red, evoking wounds. Various small scraps of other material create texture and interest on these wounded globes…
I have submitted this second piece, Bandages, to upcoming juried show at the Northwind Art Center. I don’t know if has enough impact or conveys the theme well enough. However it certainly fits the theme, being of a style, subject and medium that is “outside my comfort range”! I failed to get a hanger on the first piece in time to enter it.
This piece started continues my Tangled Twigs series, but with a very different twist. Inspired by the theme of the upcoming juried show at a local gallery, I decided to emphasize color and fantasy. I am not comfortable working with either!
I don’t plan to enter the show at Northwinds Art Gallery, being a bit sour on juried shows at the moment, but I did need to find a way to proceed with this drawing. I was stuck, and perhaps winding down on this series, so here there be dragons!
This continuation of my texture meditations started with embossing & black conte crayon, then graphite pencil. It was very dull, but I did not want high contrast black & white, so I added a little color.
I used colored pencil (including metallics), pan pastel, and for the extra touch you cannot really see in this image a three colored silk threads…
This tangled twig drawing on paper evokes a nest of snakes … and it is getting more interesting. At first it was soft, delicate and irritatingly bland…
I worked on it but my efforts to add & improve were failing, so I set it aside. Returning to it now, I am bolder with changes. The large ghost leaf/nest is a new major addition, and it has more contrast, and more but less vivid color.
I don’t love it, and wish I had chosen different colors, but it does work better. The lower image is a scan of an early draft before the recent work.
Unfortunately the muted purple Prismacolor pencil I used is one that bleeds vivid magenta with spray fixative! It took a lot of work to mute that ghastly effect. I need to test my colors for this problem: it seems several purple shades do this, and there may be a few other colors that separate and bleed!
Thinking about work for a show, and I find all of these works were completed Aug 2012 – Jan 2013. So I seem to be fairly productive in my new studio!
The images are not to scale: sizes vary from one 9″x12″, several in between size, and the largest is 24″x18″.
This is not everything. I completed a few smaller drawings, my 2013 Sketchbook for Arthouse Coop, an altered book, and even a relief print I rather like.
I may have some the above work on exhibit at 1012 Coffee Bar in July.