Christmas Day

It's dark, dreary, blustery and raining today. And it's Christmas morning. My household is asleep. The wider world around me is mostly asleep. What are they dreaming of? Sugarplums? A vaccine? Normalcy (whatever that is!)?

Holidays bring out my pensive side. What does it mean to take part in these cultural affirmations of unexamined value? How does an individual and the larger culture (family, region, nation) find honest and beneficial modes of coexistence?

It's too much for my small brain. So I go, tied to the mast today, and experience what Nature and Culture have to offer. Before all the traditions crank up however, I'll lace up my boots and go down to the river with my sketchbook. Hopefully the wind won't blow it all away. Hopefully, the rain will be amused at my practice.

It should be amused. My small drama of registering moments of existence, pencil and brush in hand, is puny in the grand scheme. And maybe, there is no "grand scheme." There are only an infinite number of small schemes. Infinite as the stars in the night sky. Pick one. If you follow them all, you'll get nowhere.

Merry Christmas

12-25-15-church

12-25-13-church

12-25-19-hawk

12-25-19-ducks

12-25-19-riverbank

Sun and Fog

 

12-12-20-sun-fog
pastel, charcoal

Horizontal format

 These are all drawn on tabloid size (11 x 17") bond paper. Nothing fancy. The surface is smooth. I find ways to make it speak, more or less. These drawings were done with pastels, ink, chalk, charcoal and colored pencil.

10-09-20-ducks

10-09-20-swan01

10-23-20-bridge

10-25-20-maple

10-27-20-island

11-04-20-dam

11-11-20-floatingleaves

11-11-20-island

11-20-20-cattails

11-20-20-dam

Autumn Color

In keeping with this colorful season, I have been incorporating more bright pigments into my landscape drawings. Since I have a need to work quickly, I use most dry media (pencil, chalk and pastel) and ink on various and mostly indifferent papers.

Recent rains and a heavy snow have stripped most of the brightest leaves from the trees so now there is a blend of greens, grays and browns and more bare branches by the day. Soon winter will be here. I think I'll keep my colors nearby though.

09-26-20-island
pastel, ink

10-04-20-reflections
pastel, charcoal

10-09-20-swan04
chalk, pastel, ink

10-14-20-bridge
pastel, charcoal

10-20-20-willow
pastel, chalk, ink

10-23-20-bridge
ink, pastel, chalk

10-23-20-swan
ink, pastel

10-25-20-maple
ink, pastel

NEW BOOK: "Heron Drawings"

 I've designed and published a book of drawings of Great blue herons. It looks really good (if you like art, books and long legged prehistoric looking birds).

Get it here.

"Heron Drawings" by Rob Dunlavey
163 pages, 8 1/2 x 11" $12.00 + shipping
paperback, full color

From the introduction:

"It got me wondering how many herons I’d drawn over the years that I might offer her. They all deserve better homes; many are deep in the pages of sketchbooks or buried in stacks of loose papers, along with other landscape drawings. So I sorted through my computer files and have put together this catalog of any image with the word “heron” in the file name. As of September 2020, I have made about 480 drawings."

Low Water

The Charles River is low this time of year. The flow inches up and down depending on rainfall but it's typical in September to see just a trickle of water flowing over the dam. The mallards love it. They congregate in the hundreds some days dabbling in the shallow, algae laden pools and preening on top of the dam. Soon enough, cold weather and ice will settle in and the ducks will look for more dependable open water. So, I draw them while I can. By March of next year I'll be "duck-starved" from having only water, ice, snow and bare tree limbs to draw all winter.

09-11-20-ducks03
pastel, ink

09-14-20-dam
pastel, ink

09-20-20-dam02
pastel, ink

08-03-20-dam
ink

09-20-16-dam
pencil

08-31-16-dam
colored pencil, ink

07-18-16-dam
ink

Heavy Vegetation

The river is full of ducks right now. They are busy all the time flying, flapping, eating, conversing, getting ready for winter. I draw them a lot because they're charming and they will be rare in the winter. I have to take breaks from drawing the ducks however. Then I focus on the vegetation which will be stripped of greenery in the next few months. I know from past experience that I will miss it when all I have are bare branches, rocks and water as a subject. Below are some recent vegetation drawings.

08-25-20-river
crayon, ink

08-24-20-branch
charcoal, pastel, ink

08-23-20-dam02
pastel, charcoal, ink

08-19-20-island
charcoal, pastel, ink

08-08-20-tree01
ink

Laid Paper

This past week I've been working on small pieces of ivory colored laid paper. You can see the linear texture of the paper in the drawings below. I was given this paper by an acquaintance who worked for a printer. Their client had ordered the paper and had it cut down to a custom size and then they changed direction and the paper was unused.

I took as much as I could fit in my car. There were other papers as well. I've carried it around with me for almost twenty years and have used it occasionally.  Having diverse papers and other art supplies seems to keep me engaged in this enterprise. I hope you are happy in your art making.

08-04-20-ducks01

08-04-20-ducks03

08-04-20-ducks09

08-04-20-ducks10

08-05-20-duck09

08-08-20-goose

08-10-20-ducks