The Hawk

This morning, high above in a leafless walnut tree, a red tailed hawk contemplated the meaning of Thanksgiving. The sky was a deep gray, covered in a low, thick blanket of sullen wintery clouds. No ducks. The swan has left. The heron is indisposed. Even the sparrows are gone off, perhaps to that feeder in my back yard which delights and torments my house-bound cats. So the hawk looked on. His feathers all fluffed up keeping it warm. It flew off as I was absorbed with my final sketch. Do wild animals say "Thank you?"

It started to sprinkle rain which will turn to snow tonight. I walked home and put a few more yard things away for the coming season and took out a few snow shovels to keep nearby.  I also filled the bird feeders. I love their cheeping and chattering. Cheep!

Red Tailed Hawk
charcoal
11-26-14

Red Tailed Hawk
charcoal, burnt siena
11-26-14

Red Tailed Hawk
charcoal, burnt siena
11-26-14

Icicles!

First icicles
colored pencil
11/20/14

Choppy water
paint stick, oil pastel
11/21/14

Say Hello…

tree reflections
charcoal
11-19-2014

It's quite cold and windy today. I made this uncomplicated drawing in 15-20 minutes with gloves on.
I'm trying to face the fact that winter is here. Yeah. I'll offer to take his coat and hang it up and we'll settle in for a few months of discomfort, quietude and icy beauty. The river will continue to flow even when it is covered with ice. Perhaps the ducks will find an ice shelf near the island to shelter from the wind and sleet. Maybe one reason we have winter and why I don't mind it so much is that it whets my appetite for spring —which is only five months away :-0

Ducks on the ice

Ice forming above the dam

Winter encampment

Flowers will bloom again!

Some Trees

stone wall, trees, ground cover
ink, charcoal
11-9-14

Tree by a river
conté pencil
11-11-14

morning sun through the trees
ink, charcoal
10-12-14

Process & Presence

I'm thinking about David Hockney's prodigious drawings and paintings of landscapes: "The Arrival of Spring" (at PACE, New York; just closed). Funny, to hang this show as the Northern hemisphere looks with resignation to the dark and rainy winter months.

David Hockney, Woldgate, 6–7 February, from The Arrival of Spring in 2013 (twenty thirteen). Charcoal on paper. 22 5/8 x 30 1/4 in. © 2013 David Hockney. Photo: Richard Schmidt

David Hockney drawing Woldgate, February 6-7, from The Arrival of Spring in 2013
Photo: David Hockney
source: The Guardian, May 7, 2014

Like my drawings of The South Natick Dam and Lake Waban, Hockney's are probably not the greatest landscape art ever done. A more positive similarity is that like Hockney, and countless other artists, I feel a comfortable command of my medium and metier. I believe we use our fear of drawing badly as our greatest weapon to produce work that matters to us, in the moment, and perhaps for much longer. But who cares? It's simply the process that defines presence.

Looking downriver
charcoal
11-2-14

Looking Across the Dam
charcoal, ink
10-24-14

Tree

charcoal, ink

11-7-14

The Pleasant Street Bridge
charcoal
11-7-14

Black, Blue & Red

Tree
ink, charcoal
10-31-14

Reflections
colored pencil
11-3-14

Two ducks
conté pencil
11-3-14