Fledgling right along

I completed my latest work which features fledgling Cardinal.  I was stunned a couple of weeks ago when I spotted one.  Unexpected to me was the neutral and somewhat cool red-violet hue of the tiny bird, because adult Cardinals are red-orange and red-brown in hue.  I was struck and in awe, and felt the sweet tiny creature would fit nicely into my latest work.  

Here is the painting in its beginning stages from the July 24th post of this Blog:  http://dawnhunterart.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-big-and-small-of-work.html

Fledgling, acrylic, ink and graphite on Yupo, 18" x 24"

detail of Fledgling

detail of Fledgling

The Fledgling by Edna Saint Vincent Millay

So, art thou feahered, art thou flown,
Thou naked thing?—and canst alone
Upon the unsolid summer air
Sustain thyself, and prosper there?
Shall no more with anxious note
Advise thee through the happy day,
Thrusting the worm into thy throat,
Bearing thine excrement away?
Alas, I think I see thee yet,
Perched on the windy parapet,
Defer thy flight a moment still
To clean thy wing with careful bill.
And thou are feathered, thou art flown;
And hast a project of thine own. 

The Big and the Small of the Work

Sometimes you have to make a lot of small things before you can make one big thing. 

My studio days have been spent in deep study and thought.  It may not be clear to all who 
visit the studio, but everything is leading somewhere - the studies are a map exposing 
direction.  As an artist I need to experience my future choices in some form before they are 
made or executed in a long term work.  The studies below assisted in the realization of the color drawing featured in the July 19, 2014 post of this Blog:

http://dawnhunterart.blogspot.com/2014/07/happy-ending-to-new-direction-new.html

New painting in progress, acrylic and ink on Yupo, 18" x 24"

Vine study, maker and pen on paper, 14" x 17"

Grey Sunflower study, graphite and ink on paper

Green Sunflower study, ink on paper, 14" x 17"

“…I am a fervent adept of the religion of facts. It has been said innumerable times, and I have also repeated it, that “facts remain and theories pass away…To observe with­out think­ing is as dangerous as to think with­out observ­ing. The­ory is our best intel­lec­tual tool; a tool, like all oth­ers, liable to be notched and to rust, requir­ing con­tin­ual repairs and replace­ments, but with­out which it would be almost impos­si­ble to make a deep hol­low in the mar­ble block of reality."

- Santiago Ramón y Cajal

Happy ending to the new direction, new beginning...

A day in the studio spent completing new illustrative work.

Graphite, acrylic and ink on paper, 18" x 24"

Detail of top image

Detail of top image

“Nothing inspires more reverence and awe in me than an old man who knows how to change his mind.”

 -Santiago Ramón y Cajal

Same idea, in progress, in another direction

Drawing in progress, graphite, ink and acrylic on paper, 18" x 24"

Unfortunately, nature seems unaware of our intellectual need for convenience and unity, and very often takes delight in complication and diversity.

- Santiago Ramón y Cajal

Man as Sunflower Painting

Acrylic and ink on paper, 2014

Neuroanatomist Santiago Ramon y Cajal once said:  "Every man if he so
desires becomes sculptor of his own brain."  (Source:  Recuerdos de mi
vida, 1901).

Man as Sunflower Drawing

Color drawing of a man as a sunflower, ink and pen on paper, 14" x 17"

Handmade accordion sketchbook, summer 2014

First four pages of sketchbook, summer 2014

"Having arrived at this glacial summit—old age—we realize that we have lived many successive existences, strung together by a luminous thread of conscious memory. Like prehistoric geological formations, our memory contains various layers that preserve artifacts from ancient human tribes. In the cerebral cave, the solitary old man must look with pity upon his primitive ancestors and declare his independence of thought and action..." 

-Santiago Ramón y Cajal

Sweltering for art:

I am continuing my summer tradition of plein air drawings.  Today!, the crocodile tank at the Zoo.  The environmental conditions are accurately kept, so the morning was spent sweltering for art.

Sketchbook Aquarium drawing #2, marker and pen on paper, 9" x 12,"  2014

"Our organism’s complexity has spread a rich and noble life throughout sensations and thoughts; however, as a counterweight, this complexity has also brought us distressing fragility. We live with the constant threat of catastrophe. . . ."

by Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Café Chats (translated by Benjamin Ehrlich)

Aquarium Drawing

Sketchbook Aquarium drawing, marker and pen on paper, 9" x 12,"  2014

". . . Faith vigorously promotes longevity, while doubt can doom us to an early death."

"Blessed are those who give their lives to a great idea, for they will endure in and for it! . ."

Both quotes by Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Café Chats (translated by Benjamin Ehrlich)