Thank you all for your warm and generous remarks. It means a lot.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Michele Rushworth
Why do you think it took you less than half the time to do than your other work?
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Michelle, it was an interesting experience working on this piece. About 4 or 5 hours into it I noticed that I had, without thinking, placed the drawing on my easel and was drawing it that way. I've never done that before, and at that moment, it surprised me. But it seemed
right. Before, I'd always have the drawing on a board in my lap or on a table. This felt more like I was doing a painting. I noticed that working this way encouraged me to step back often -
constantly - to see what I was doing. I also realized that in many of my previous drawings I was being a bit fanatical in trying to render everything I saw. And I'd have my nose buried in it for hours. With this drawing I relented a bit and began to let the medium have a "say" as to what would be best for a particular passage. Giving up some control. It seems like a good thing - especially for a control freak like me. I'm more aware now that every medium has particular virtues that are just waiting to be exploited - things that only
that medium can do. I know that my task as an artist is to "open up" more to what the materials "want" to do. To me, it's the difference between talking and listening.
Linda, the charcoal I used was a stick, compressed that comes in this Cretacolor set that I hand out to my adult students. It's a bit hard and after quite a bit of rubbing (to get the
black black) the paper was getting a bit distressed. I think I'll try a softer stick next time. Most, but not all, of the face was done with various General's Charcoal pencils. And I gave myself permission to smudge, something I hadn't done before. I may defect and become a true smudger...
Yes, Sharon these handmade papers do have beautiful surfaces, and it is "somehow like luxuriating at a very classy spa." - although I think of them more as: sitting in a bathtub, in chest-high hot water filled with Mr. Bubble and surrounded by my rubber ducky and plastic submarine. But that's just me...
