Orange E

Orange E   charcoal/watercolor   13.5 x 11

is our wonderful 7-year-old grandson, whose snaggle-tooth grin could not be ignored.  This drawing is, and was intended to be soft.  It is rendered in charcoal on Rives BFK, a highly-rated paper, usually used for printmaking.  It's soft surface and weight was perfect for this project.  At the end, I decided to use watercolor for his sweatshirt, as E.'s favorite color is orange, which he frequently wears.

In terms of photo references, I will admit that the lighting was not perfect, as the photo was taken during a Facetime chat...an amazing process, that I could never have dreamed to be possible.  We take what we can get these days.  Of course, for a dramatic rendering, where shadows and lights create a more interesting patterning on the face, a studio set-up with lighting and a more considered picture-taking process would have possible. 

I believe that, in this case, the softer presentation of everyday lighting worked out well.

And....btw....those baby-teeth-hangers-on have now been replaced with some emerging larger pearly-whites.  I love this age.  Enthusiasm.  A lightness of spirit.  Hope.

Lost and Found,

Lost and Found   conte and pastel on Rives BFK   18 x 21.5

picking and sorting, organizing....the stuff of which my life is comprised...constant evaluation:  weeds vs. flowers; healthy relationships vs. the toxic; and that which we deem necessary vs. that which just takes up space.  It is, I think, a perpetual process that helps us find ourselves.

This drawing was referenced from a photo shot last September at a family wedding, where our granddaughter, just two, was given the responsibility of being a flower girl.  During the long wait, she dropped the basket a couple of times, and patiently replaced the petals into the basket.  She took this job quite seriously.

The biggest challenge during this work was to push and pull those hard and soft edges for the purpose of movement throughout the composition.  This is a process that I particularly enjoy, along with a manipulation and shifting of values in an attempt to create work with strong design, while remaining soft.

Initially, I had planned only a light sketch.  The project morphed into a more complete painting-like drawing, in which the Rives BFK (a printmaking paper) was pushed as far as it could go in terms of workability.

I take my job quite seriously as well.