Morton Sachs, one of my many drawing teachers, said an excellent drawing appears to radiate its own light. Immediately I understood this, but it took many, many practice drawings prior to my achieving it. So, when I reproduce my work I wish to achieve the same apparent glow of light that the real things radiate. You would think this would be easy on a computer screen, since the screen itself radiates light. Alas, no. On a real drawing, light appears to radiate because of the subtle play of values on the artifice that are drawn forms. Even though you can feel the light in the drawings reproduced here, I lament the loss which occurs. They do not twinkle in the way I work so hard to make them twinkle. For some reason, paintings work a bit differently; they better radiate their natural glow.
I did not visit the studio today. I needed a day off. In yesterday's post I was mistaken about my position in my energy cycle. However, yesterday I did take one more step toward completion of Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014. It is so very close. The changes you will see from here onward will be subtle at best. Tomorrow I will deal with the upper backgrounds, left and right. The left panel's upper background feels a bit stale to me, so revisiting it will reassure me I have found a valid solution. It is what it is. A query and then an answer. The answers are never the correct and the queries just keep on coming. Such is the making of art.
Right: The changes to the man in the left panel.
Recently I have been wondering, "Why am I drawing so much?" Now I know. For the first time I feel I got that man on the left right! Weird as it seems, all those recent drawings brought me to a simple change in his jaw line, which led to a simple change in his neck. That is a boring technical detail. It is expression I am seeking, and technical problems must be solved to solve the problems with expression. This painting, Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014, can now (hurray & hurrah) come to conclusion. Apparently I have been waiting for the solution of this little detail. Happily it will inform me going forward, thus reducing the time it will take me to complete future paintings. And, wow, do I want to go forward to the next painting. Yesterday I began preparation of the second of the three canvases for my next painting, a triptych. To get there faster than I have with Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014 I will use paint sticks and acrylic markers to draw the initial composition. Wrong: The reproduction of yesterday's drawing. To photograph yesterday's drawing I moved the lights closer than usual, thinking I would be able to reproduce the drawing better if it were more brightly lit. Instead, the lighting on the drawing's surface was inconsistent and the lower part of the drawing washed out. No matter, this is not one of the better drawings among the recent ones, so there is no great need to make an effort to reproduce it better than seen here. Obviously, I am experimenting with the problems of photographing for reproduction, and this failure is just one more note along the way to better reproductions. My intense experimentation with drawing is leading me optimistically, one to the next. My investigation of the means to reproduce these drawings falls way short of satisfaction (Complaint: I just can't seem to reproduce the subtlety of the pencil line with its vast range of values. Also, I can't seem to get close to good reproduction without the white paper looking gray).
I am surprised, and nurtured, by my recent drawings. Each seems better than the last. Each feels more like me. Yes, I want to return to painting, and yes I want to begin the new triptych, but also, yes, I need to finish the diptych, Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014 (which, after the recent series of drawings, feels very old and limited to me). Yesterday's drawing plays with the male and female form, with many contrasts and distortions. I am truly enjoying my playfulness. I am getting closer to expression of my true and unique self. I am returning to those things for which I have affection and humor. Two days ago I made this drawing. Both of the figures are well coifed. I will be back in the studio today.
I nearly forgot about this part of me, this underlying sense of the comic. One has to accept the humor of living as a consequence of the definitive fleetingness of our existence. Nothing is really serious. It is only our invention of ego and history that causes our investment in actions as important. So I am very happy to see the resurgence of humor in my drawing. I am surprised! Once again I am reminded that the consistency of practice brings unexpected benefits. This is why art is research. Just when you believe your work has paid off in self-discovery, another layer of fog gets stripped away. You discover, you renew, you remind yourself who you authentically are. The drawings of the last two have this kind of authenticating importance.
Alberto Giacometti wrote this about Amedeo Modigliani: "He was the last great Promethean hero. He certainly had a wonderful intelligence and openness of spirit. Besides painting portraits, he made pages of drawings; and that is what I always try to do. Draw, draw all the time; that is the secret."
I could not agree more. What could be more wonderful than to feel camaraderie with these two guys? These are artists I most deeply respect. This truth, this idea, this passion about drawing, is exhibited by every artist I emulate, including Picasso, Matisse, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, and da Vinci. Drawing is the birth-form of all important, and profound, visual art. The one thing yesterday's drawings have in common is their origination via a compositional bias. In the drawing above I began with an L-shape, and in the drawing below below I began with a U-shape. From there both drawings took off on their own. I believe these drawings are preparatory works for my next painting. That next painting is planned as a triptych. The compositional solution will be built around the problem of animating three panels. The two side panels will be smaller than the middle panel. I am imagining the smaller, left and right panels, will have single figures (male and female), while the central panel will contain interaction between the two figures. It is the problem of interactivity, between the two figures, that is behind the inquiry seen in yesterday's drawings. These drawings are studies in a means to instigate the interaction. In addition, I have always enjoyed inventing abstract three-dimensional forms. Yesterday's drawings marry my recent interest in human figures with my old love of robustly three-dimensional objects. Here, these two intense interests come together. The vigorous third-dimension created by the objects (the initial "L" and "U") carried over into the human figures. This outcome is very rewarding.
I don't know if my last drawing (made two days ago) has any discernible significance. I approached it mindlessly. Sometimes working without reason opens doors to ideas that are significant. After reading the last three sentences I believe confusion is apt. Something worthwhile may result. I certainly am not going to spend much time thinking it.
Today's version of Untitled Diptych-04·15·2014 is one that is nearly final. At this point there are minor, albeit well understood, final touches to be made. I don't see any more grand and complicated problems. Hallelujah!
Yesterday's drawings are me playing with the head and neck as expressive forms, examining the major and minor surfaces as light and shadow. These were done after I painted. Having struggled for several days with the man-on-the-left's head I wanted to celebrate my presently visceral and available knowledge in drawing. |
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April 2024
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