In the Studio : drawings part two

intaglio inks for new drawings
changing direction detail
graphite inks

I actually was able to get to the studio on Sunday. Often I'm so fried from the work week I do all the domestic stuff that day. But this Sunday was different. I hopped on the bus early and was the only rider to my destination; then walked the last mile. That gave me plenty of time to be in my own head.

After I climbed the flights to my third floor studio I was ready to get into my ritual.

I changed into my working clothes and put on the coffee. I donned my headphones and ipod and selected my studio playlist. I don't always listen to mysic in my studio. I love the silence the lack of stimuli. Lit a single candle and put my lunch in the fridge. The coffee pot had done it's job and I enjoyed it's aroma. I sat in my chair and looked, really looked at the drawings I had started in the past couple visits. The big story in them is a tonal rhythm that I didn't want to break. But I wanted to layer another rhythm on top, a sort of syncopation.

So much of my work is repetitive marks and I'm always searching for new tools. I have been using knives putty knives and different kinds of rollers so that I can make larger marks that have the same vocabulary as my smaller ones. The important thing about the tool is it needs to create a mark that may have some variants but never degrades. After some wandering around the studio and piling up some tools on my work table and testing them on a piece of board I settles on a small brush that I could use with a stippling technique.

I usually do much of my drawing with my paper or other substrate attached to the wall. That makes dripping an issue. So using Casein or Gouache are good choices for wall work.

This is a quick detail of the marks on the Payne's Gray tones.

These are variants on the Payne's Gray tones.