First One, Then The Other

I used the first drawing shown in the previous post as a catalyst for this second one in the left panel. I positioned a second sheet to the left of the first, and started off again, one color leading to another, one shape after another. In this drawing, I wanted the black to be less of a "background" and more of an active, integral foreground component. Whereas I cannot completely agree with Renoir's statement that "black is the queen of all color", I wanted to work toward balancing black against the others. I am not completely pleased with how the black works here, it is still lingering "behind" and may use a more monochrome palette in future drawings until the balance of foreground and background is to my liking. Nonetheless, I am quite pleased with working abstractly, as the pure joy of drawing colors and shapes, unweighted by the pressure of an representational image, is exhilarating.

Something Different

"Make a mark, do something to it, do something else to it."

--Jasper Johns

Or something along those lines. As mentioned in previous posts, I have been wrestling with a couple of different approaches, trying to work through keeping drawing from stagnating. After the last multi-panel drawing, I stepped back and decided to give figure drawing a break for awhile. I want to concentrate on the act of drawing itself, without being encumbered with a subject. Frequently I find myself concentrating on getting the figure/subject just right, rather than enjoying drawing.

The right panel of two, built of one stroke of color after another, just letting the drawing evolve on the page.

A Look at the Whole: Final Thoughts

After the last row was completed, I taped all nine sections up on my studio wall, and stood back to view the final for the first time as a whole. I must say I was quite struck by the scale. I knew how big the final was going to be (each panel is 20" wide), but until I saw them all in place up on the wall, the drawing didn't have a "wholeness" or sense of space.


Some other thoughts that come to mind: does the individual tiling effect add or subtract from the whole? Other than the drawing experience of working incrementally, focused on individual sections and not concentrating on the overall, is this sectional drawing method any better? And does it matter? One thing I can say is that it is a very valuable tool for me, allowing me to intently concentrate on process rather than product, and if that is the sole by-product of this exercise, then it has been valuable.

The Bottom Three

I finished off the bottom row of three in much the same manner as the others: all in one pass, working directly in colors with no under drawing, focused on each section rather than the overall. One of the byproducts of this method is the unpredictability. This can be easily seen in the lower left panel, which is noticeably out of proportion/scale with the middle panel. Interestingly, I do not find this objectionable, it lends a degree of randomness fitting the overall working method, and certainly helps me be comfortable with "happy accidents", as an instructor once called them.

The Middle Three: Subtle Drift

In a flurry or work, I have laid in the basics for the middle three drawings. As I work on each panel, one thing that I am aware of is drift. With each drawing, I let the previous one lead. I become more interested in softness, the colors undulate up close as I draw, Rothko-esque as it were.The effect is ever so vaguely like writing repetitive sentences on a page, and each subsequent line slightly droops as it is written. I also am less focused on the final outcome. No telling what the final product will yield, but the process is invigorating.

The First Third

Drawings Two and Three follow to complete the first third of this nontych, if the jazz parallel of a nonette applies. I'm am trying to keep in mind the previous drawing when completing each subsequent one, but not comparing to the point that I am sacrificing uniqueness for continuity. There will be dissimilarities with each component, that is the point. Individual portions combine to form a composite that exceeds the parts.