Working Through It

There are days when I just don't feel like drawing. It seems as though I come up with things "to do" to avoid facing the paper. And it is not that I don't have anything "to draw", or any ideas: I keep several file folders with source images, color swatches, "starting points" for blocked periods (those happen too).

But I felt "obligated" to at least make the effort. It had been a week or so since I had drawn and I alternate between itching to get back to a drawing and irritated because the work week has kept me away. So I headed up to the studio, puttered around, straightening, cleaning, and working myself up to speed. Once I mounted the paper on the easel and began to rough in the figure, one thing led to another and I was on my way.

Four hours later, I had the basis for the finished drawing. My starting color palette was a salmon/cream highlights, sort of a pea green/khaki midtone, and shadows of deep aqua. When I finished the first session, the shadows were clearly punchless. I looked at the image for a day or so and came back the next morning to punch it up and, keeping with my preferred method, scrub out some highlights.

This is part of a series of extreme high- and low-angle drawings where I am moving away from the standard "horizon line" and viewer/subject relationship. Even if I come upon a pose that is "straight-on", I will always rotate and crop to increase the dynamics.