Have a good weekend. I'll be hanging with the ducks probably.
:)
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| 08-11-17 ink |
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| 08-09-17 oil stick, ink |
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| 08-09-17 crayon, ink, charcoal, oil stick |
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| 08-09-17 oil stick, charcoal, ink |
Friday, August 11, 2017
Ducky
Saturday, August 5, 2017
Shibata Zeshin
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| 07-08-17 ink, wash, charcoal |
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| detail |
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| 08-01-17d ink, watercolor |
The grayscale watercolor above was painted in about 45 minutes about a month ago from the Pleasant Street bridge near my house. It's about 18 x 24 inches. The next morning I drew a similar image of a heron in my sketchbook. I just finished it a few days ago. A friend compared the colored image, a studio work, to Japanese lacquer art. I think she was responding to the detail, small scale and limited color. And the bird of course! This got me thinking of a Japanese artist I've taken a recent interest in: Shibata Zeshin (1. wikipedia 2. MFA Boston collections).
Shibata Zeshin made paintings, prints and lacquerware in 19th century Edo. He straddled the late-Edo and Meiji eras of Japanese history. His work is well-regarded, interesting and very well made. For some observers however, he is too modern and pandering to Western art or too conservative to cause a ripple in the very self-aware universe of Japanese art. I think that many artists and illustrators find themselves somewhere in a similar divided dilemma: paying homage to tradition and paying homage to the tradition of inventiveness. Such is the life of the artist. Best to let the work lead where it will and tune out the many voices that comment and critique.
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Calligraphy of Creation
The bird populations here seem to be nearly dependable now this late in the Summer. Still, I jump at the chance to draw these creatures which are in constant motion: soaring, stalking prey, or dabbling in the shallows.
It's all a calligraphy of Creation and I never tire of it. There were some sublime moments just this morning --but I haven't scanned those yet. Patience; these are from last week+.
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| The Willow Tree ink, paints stick, charcoal 07-23-17 |
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| Geese ink, vine charcoal 07-23-17 |
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| Swifts ink, charcoal 07-23-17 |
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| Swifts ink, charcoal 07-30-17 |
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