This week many new changes have taken place in my studio. The big one is rearranging storage. That task includes many descreet efforts. But more enjoyable is the pruning of my ficus marginata. I have had this tree over a decade. I have treated it when it had bugs. I have trimmed away branches when it has gotten a little crazy in it's spring spurts. This time Margaret is doing a careful effort to help it sit in a spot where we won't run into it and injure it's leaves on a regular basis. 

The looks super spiffy now.

It is always difficult to make new work in the aftermath of hanging a show. The adrenalin has fallen, the body wants to sleep and the head is full of new ideas. It's just the hands that are unwilling. But now three weeks later I'm ready to get back to drawing. My head is full of ideas not of drawings but of marks I want to make and the processes I look forward to experiencing. It will be more experimentation with ink and tools that may or may not be unexpected.

My drawings in this exhibition focus on measurement and probing. A ping. Each series of marks is made by filling a tool then making marks until the ink is gone. How far will the ink go?

I have always been drawn to make marks. The repetition allows me to be caught up in a rhythm; the proximity of the marks create rest and action. This is central to my work. Using tools that ask me to focus on each mark creates a meditative state. Each mark seems to take an eternity. I touch the surface, make the mark, and then move away.

I've begun making my large drawing for my upcoming exhibition. It will be fifteen feet. More details as the work continues.

Last week I began testing an indigo ink.

I have made a series of drawings since March that are the result of repetive marks and the visual rhythmns derived from the depletion of ink in my dip pen. When I make these drawings my mind is empty and the result of the process is a complete surprise.

I made this drawing after the splat. 

I had finished the splat drawing but I really felt as though I needed to make another. From previous experience I figured I might be able to make another small drawing in the three or more hours I had left in my studio day.

Making this drawing actually surprised me. My ability to maintain an even tempo and distance was quite easy. I am really please with what it turned out to be. 

Another in my new series of ink drawings on Yupo.

I was well into this drawing. Only a few rows short of being finished. All I could hear was my breath, the tap of my pen on the Yupo surface. I had just filled my pen when a vibration and a door slam startled me.

The result, a splat.

I gathered myself and decided to finish the drawing. Title 3060 splat

I've made several small drawings rendering repetitive marks to create patterns. These drawings are part of continuing experimentation on rhythms created by the repititive marks using tools that must be dipped or filled with limited amounts of pigment. 

The changes in the marks are a direct result of the depletion of the pigment. I'm working on both large and small drawings. Looking forward to making more.

They are alive! Organic forms that I began experimenting with this month. I have ideas that will allow me to use them as repetitive marks. More test drawings are planned. I'm making small idea sketches. Larger drawings to come after I finish my current series.

I began a series of marks on a piece of engineering vellum this past week. It revealed some very compelling patterns. After a very interesting conversation with art bud Brian Dennis I took to a new drawing. Looking to make a larger drawing. One with the same mark over and over.

These images are my first effort. The rhythm/pattern is revealing itself.

This is the result of three days of drawing. I'm looking forward to working on this drawing again and the others that will come after it. I have a whole drawer of Yupo sheets that can be the surface for these drawings.