Botany

The Island, Summer
ink
06-18-15

In addition to studying Fine Art in college, I also minored in Botany. I studied taxonomy and basic morphology and participated in botanical and ecological fieldwork. The ink drawing above is not a scientific drawing of plants. Rather, it's an artistic meditation on fecundity and the visual texture it creates.

When making landscape pictures, there is always a decision to be made regarding detail: how much? Is it accurate? Do more details show greater mastery of the Art-making process? Will more details ruin a perfectly good drawing? When does observation topple over into Art —and vice versa?

From the very beginning, this picture of the island's vegetation was not meant to be observation. It was meant to be Art. I am an artist after all! And the paradox is that the more Artless  your Art is, the better Art it is. One small consolation is that it all begins with observation. So there!

Here are a few more recent drawings from last week.

Swans
06-17-15

Geese
06-20-15

Animals Added

Geese
ink
June 10, 2015

The animals are back at the dam. I get tired of drawing the scenery for months on end, all four seasons: the stone walls, the diagonal face of the dam and the rushing water, the trees and shoreline. There are endless angles and configurations to explore and compositions to place just so. But add some geese and grackles, herons, kingfishers and flycatchers and the lumbering carp and I am a happy lad.

carp swimming at the base of the dam
ink
June 4, 2015

detail: carp

dead sparrow
colored pencil, watercolor
June 7, 2015

detail: dead sparrow

Geese study
colored pencil, charcoal
June 12, 2015

Great Blue Heron hunting
pencil
June 13, 2015

The End of May

Hello. I thought I should post these before I head out again this morning (it's 6:30 a.m.) to draw the river. Bye for now.

railing-balustrade
graphite
5/21/15

the bridge
ink, charcoal
5/22/15

the dam at dusk
crayon
5/22/15

morning sun
5/23/15
ink, charcoal

the island and the dam
5/25

Lake Waban, Hunnewell Pinetum
charcoal
5/25/15