7/19 the AM, I think there is a solution...

...to some of the spatial and scale issues within my large scale, long term drawing/painting right outside my window, my kitchen window.  Morning sketchbook work explored the possibilities.  Off to test my theory.

Sketchbook page, long term drawing #18, marker, 

 and pen on paper, 9" x 12"

A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be.
- Maslow

7/18, Another sketchbook day at the zoo...

...resulted in too many fun, quirky, and invigorating conversations with children, tweens, and teens to recount all of the words.  Most just wanted to watch me draw, and several asked to look through my entire Zoo sketchbook (I keep multiple themed sketchbooks simultaneously.)  One tween came up and introduced himself as an artist by saying "I am an artist myself and can I asked you about what you are doing?" - he then proceeded to discuss my drawings and aesthetic choices.  Another tween proclaimed that he thought I could beat his uncle in an art competition, however to be fair, I believe the outcome of any competition with his uncle would be unpredictable as his uncle is a forensic artist and thus he (the nephew) has very limited exposure to his uncle's talent.  

Sketchbook page, Riverbanks Zoo for long term drawing #16, marker, 

 and pen on paper, 9" x 12"

Sketchbook page, Riverbanks Zoo for long term drawing #17, marker, 

 and pen on paper, 9" x 12"

Forever honored by the Tree 

Forever honored by the Tree

Whose Apple Winterworn
Enticed to Breakfast from the Sky
Two Gabriels Yestermorn.

They registered in Nature's Book
As Robins -- Sire and Son--
But Angels have that modest way
To screen them from Renown.

by Emily Dickinson

7/17, Nothing like a rainy day...

...to keep things moving along in the painting.  My plans to do some plein air painting at Finley Park were cut short by the afternoon thunderstorms.  My untitled, long term work however benefited greatly from the indoor focus.  Today's progress is posted below:

Memory is the fourth dimension to any landscape.  - Janet Fitch

7/16, Seven hours in the studio...

...felt like a wrestling match - but one well worth it.  Shifting the brilliance and saturation of colors has resulted with the spatial relationships becoming more strategically defined, more distinctive from front to back, or rather foreground and background.  Looking forward to making the saturation of hues in the foreground more distinct from those in the middle-ground.

There is no strong performance without a little fanaticism in the performer. - Emerson

If you're willing to fail interestingly, you usually succeed interestingly.
- Edward Albee

7/15, Textures and Gestures

Today's Riverbanks Zoo outing focused on fine tuning direction and quality of the line within each environment.

Sketchbook page, Riverbanks Zoo for long term drawing #14, marker, 

 and pen on paper, 9" x 12"

Sketchbook page, Riverbanks Zoo for long term drawing #15, marker, 

 and pen on paper, 9" x 12"

Out of clutter, find simplicity.  - Einstein

7/13, Major progress

...on the large scale, long term drawing (originally posted about on 6/24/2013.)  The sketchbook plein air drawings are really helping to provide structure and context for the imagery and narrative.

The landscape is like being there with a powerful personality and I'm searching for just 

the right angles to make that portrait come across as meaningfully as possible. 

- Galen Rowell

7/12, Lost in translation...

...the translation of nature.  Today's Zoo sketchbook outing ended accidentally two hours later than planned.  It was quite nice losing track of time.  Two young kids passing by promptly sat next to me while I was drawing, and they ignored their parents attempts to lure them away with cotton candy or popcorn.  Their mom said she felt they were hopeful that I would let them delve into my big bin of artist markers and draw, so there was a little bit of extra creative excitement for all of us.

Sketchbook page, Riverbanks Zoo for long term drawing #12, marker, 

 and pen on paper, 9" x 12"

Sketchbook page, Riverbanks Zoo for long term drawing #13, marker, 

 and pen on paper, 9" x 12"

Sketchbook page, for 7/11 long term drawing (below), marker and pen on paper, 9" x 12"

We are the children of our landscape; it dictates behavior and even thought in the measure to which we are responsive to it. - Lawrence Durrell 

7/11 the PM, The afternoon rain may be keeping me indoors...

...but life is not without color.  Another radical shift in color on a work.  Here is hoping that it will all go well when taking the work to the next level.  Like when drawing the figure, the proportion within the torso seem work itself out quite easily, it is the addition of the length of limbs and position of the head that seems to provide the most difficulty.  And likewise, the middle of almost everything in art (and life) is the easiest - its what is on the other sides, the top and bottom, or the beginning and the end which are the most difficult, risky, and complicated.

Untitled work in progress, marker, ink, and acrylic on Yupo, 30" x 40"

detail of work in progress, marker, ink and acrylic on Yupo

This is a detail of the drawing prior to the work 

conducted in the studio this afternoon.  This detail

originally appeared in a 7/1/13 blog post.

While the river of life glides along smoothly, it remains the same river; only the landscape on either bank seems to change.  - Max Miller