drawings
Next Entries »Galahs in Traffic, reworked
Friday, April 14th, 2006
Galahs in Traffic, 14H x 11W inches oil pastels on paper, has 3-inch-wide white double mat and 26H x 22W inch white custom-built white wood frame with crackle finish.
Flocks of Galahs fly head on into cars on the highway while driving to the Kangaroo Island ferry, South Australia. A tragic phenomenon – many lay dead on the side of the road, for miles. This is a busy highway, and next to stopping, it was almost impossible to miss them.
This started out to be a drawing of the Norfolk Island Pines growing in the south-central coastal regions of Australia. It’s not unusual for me to completely re-work oil pastel drawings after a day or two of work, when they could be called finished. Sometimes after a period of study, radical changes are in order, as in this case. After two days of work, while recalling the horrifying scene that day, it was clear that the style in the first stage of the drawing was stagnant and ordinary. Adding the blurry, in-your-face Galah is much more effective. See the first version here.
Post-dated note in 2007: Galahs in Traffic placed in Artjury.com’s 2007 Fall/Winter Juried Online Exhibition.
Post-dated note, 2022: Accepted in the J. Mane Gallery’s Fins, Feathers and Fur 2020 exhibition.
Galahs in Traffic, version 1
Wednesday, April 12th, 2006
Galahs in Traffic, version 1 – this drawing started out to be a portrait of the Norfolk Island Pines growing in this coastal area of South Australia. Many of the oil pastel pieces in the Paper Places series have a first stage at the end of a day or two worth of work where it could be called finished, then after studying for a few days, months or even years, if it’s not dynamic enough it may need to be changed.
This is an area unlike any other, where flocks of Galahs flew directly into the traffic on the main highway leading to the Kangaroo Island ferry. Dead Galahs lay along the side of the road for miles. After two days of work and recalling the horrifying feelings of seeing all those dead birds, it’s clear that the drawing as it is in the stage above, is stagnant and kind of ordinary even though it could be called finished. The style needs reworking because of the subject matter and what takes place there every day.
Dusk
Friday, April 7th, 2006
Dusk, 8H x 10W inches dry pastels, graphite on charcoal paper. A few sketches for Poet Hannah Gerber’s book The Perfection of Small Birds will be posted this week. This one was inspired by “Dawn”, a recent acrylic painting.
Bluebonnets 03
Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006
Texas Bluebonnets, 16H x 12W inches dry pastels on charcoal paper, unframed, off-white mat.
When Life Gives You Lemons, Draw Them
Friday, March 10th, 2006
When Life Gives You Lemons, Draw Them, 11H x 14W inches dry pastels on charcoal paper, cream colored mat.
Left: the first version of the ‘Lemons’ still life was acceptable yesterday, but I felt the drawing did not have quite enough “zest”, so took the drawing a little further, adding more color and marks.
Alexander
Friday, January 13th, 2006
Alexander, stretching as much as possible to see down the basement stairs. 16 x 20 inches graphite, watercolor pencils on canvas, private collection.