...exploring possibilty.

In an effort to make its way out of the sketchbook and on to a bigger format this composition is at first underway as a drawing on panel. At 36"x "48" it seems to hold up. I'll try it as a larger charcoal drawing and then a big painting. Somewhere within the three methods exists the answer I'm looking for in which to proceed with the others. All answers are found in the labor. The unknown. How else will I know unless I just go? Ultimately it's not as much what creation comes from the hard work. It's what the hard work creates in the worker yes?

...on drawing.

I don't draw enough.

...new triptych.

I'm just about finished with a new triptych of still life paintings. When are they ever finished? When they leave the studio. From rough journal and yellow pad pen concept sketches to 48"x 60" canvases, these three jumbo creations have initiated my temptation series. Each will participate in the September still life exhibit at CK Contemporary Gallery here in San Francisco. 

...looking.

If the only way to know something is to try and understand its essence then sketching might be the best way. I've been studying the coastal rocks at nearby Lands End for a long time. These big chunks of stone have been sculpted by wind, water and time. Now they're drawn by me. They want easel time and and will be getting it. 

...drawing show at studio.

My walls display a bounty of charcoal drawings. All pillows. All over. See what the hype is about and then walk over to my studio! I'm referring of course to the Bouquets to Art showing at the nearby de Young Museum.
After so much color it's nice to indulge in some black and white, or vice versa!

...drawing as drawing.

Since the first of this year I've been focusing on my drawing more than usual. As two months of this practice continue into the third I'm re-discovering a facet of my creative self and what's been missing. The facet is process without concern for finish. What's been missing is the intense purity of repetitive drawing. Part meditation part ceremony and full expression, drawing for me has always been a guide inward. It's an opportunity to have access to the rich hidden source within which requires such a ritual. Although I sketch daily it's a different type of drawing. It's not the drawing. Charcoal drawing is the drawing. Nothing has the feel of charcoal. It's messy. Black dust and black hands. Black sticks scratching and scrawling. It's a primal act. It's not just old school it's the oldest school. It's before schools. It's earth used as a tool to speak symbolically. I prefer drawing on a sheet of printmaker paper and I've tried everything except a cave wall. A cave would make sense but caves are hard to find. Yet I would draw on anything just to explore possibilities.
I've been drawing my pillow and
the drawing continues....

The Archer's Paradox

Drawing is something I do to get centered when I feel disconnected from myself. It's not the only arrow in my quiver but it's one I rely on daily. Now, with a new year beginning, it's easy to get caught in an undertow of expectations. Drawing helps me to pay attention to the little things, the insignificant yet significant details of my life. It's a grounding exercise. The only objective in my daily sketch is to daily sketch. What I draw is not as important as making sure I draw. With it I'm less likely to stray from my purpose. And if straying from my purpose is necessary, then I can take that walk with a clearer mind and still find my way. Perhaps drawing is somewhat like the arrow in the archer's paradox, it must be aimed off target in order to hit the center. I may or may not be hitting center but I am aiming off target.  Is it really better to aim high and miss than it is to aim low and hit?  

Open Studio (but not at my studio!) Saturday 10/17 from 10 to 5

Since I don't have access to my studio this month I'm at home working with the idea that self-limitation is loaded with possibility and less is more. By less I suppose I mean that I've gone back to basics by drawing with charcoal and conte on butcher paper. The feel of taking a little black stick and  making marks on paper until a shape emerges or a design comes alive is so completely satisfying that it's all I've been doing lately. The decisions are pure. The action is natural and primal. It's involves the entire body, not just the hand and eye. And, for me, time is elastic and has no meaning when I'm lost in the reveries of drawing. I rarely walk away from an unfinished drawing unless it serves the drawing by doing just that.  And that may be the hardest thing of all to understand: knowing when to walk away.