Looking at some sketches from last year as a point of departure for this week.
I explored this idea a few times before but never got it to where I wanted it to be.
Week 3, Day 7
Week 3 complete.
The Suspect Fled
18" x 24"
ink and acrylic on paper
Week 3, Day 6
week 3, Day 5
Pencil work refined a bit.
Beginning laying on some ink.
More inks.
At this point I'm considering whether or not I want to keep this monochromatic or work it up with some kind of color wash. I'm still undecided.
Week 3, Day 4
Moving up.
Week 3, Day 3
Well, I think I'm done. Perhaps I'll feel differently tomorrow but as for now I don't seen any more that can be done here until I move up to the final size. I've been trying to get a sense of what this should be but I don't think I'm going to find out in advance. Sometimes you need to start doing something before you know what it is that you are doing. Tomorrow is a new day.
Week 3, Day 2
Looking for a spark. A lot of the time I sketch until something clicks, until I stumble onto something that is interesting enough for me to want to take it a little further. Not there yet but tomorrow is a new day.
Week 3, Day 1
One of the things I had hoped to do with this weekly project was explore some of the things I began in the daily project. This might be the week to see how that plays out.
Week 2, Day 7
Subtle bit of shading in here as a beginning base.
First color blocks.
On the side lines.
A bit of brush work.
A fair amount of color in place here.
Signed, numbered and dated.
Week 2 complete.
The World Isn't Fair
18" x 24"
ink, acrylic and spray enamel on paper
Week 2 , Day 6
Almost finished with the inking.
A few changes from the last color study.
Early stages of the final build up. One day to go.
Week 2, Day 5
Penciled in at the final size.
Outlining with a 08 Micron.
Taking it nice and slow. The line thickness on this would justify something bigger but I like the level of control I get with something understated.
Week 2, Day 4
Cleaning up with a bit of white.
A quick color comp just for fun really but also to see what I'm thinking might look like in the finished piece. I'm one of those people who really likes the behind the scenes stuff. I've always more interested in how something is made than the finished product. I remember looking at Norman Rockwell's color studies and liking them more that his finished work and his finished work is stunning in person. I had the opportunity to see his exhibition at the Chicago Historical Society and I can't remember being more impressed with his skill as a painter.
This is the process from the first draft to the third. I'm working on one more before I move up to the final size. There are a few things I want to tighten up and I'm considering adding some other elements.
Week 2, Day 3
The refining process
Sometimes this feels like circling the drain. Slow at first but the closer you get to the center the faster things go. I actually have a clear idea of how I want this to turn out, which isn’t uncommon, what is uncommon is actually having it turn out that way. At some point despite your best-laid plans you just might find yourself in a position where abandoning your plans altogether makes the most sense. I found that plans are a lot like scaffolding. They are useful when they serve their purpose and really get in the way when they don’t.
Week 2, Day 2
One of the things I learned by doing a drawing a day was how to pay attention. Knowing I was going to have to create something every day forced me to be pay attention to the often very subtle sparks of inspiration going off around me all day. Most of the time it's some as small as the cracks of paint on a signal box or the way someone slumps their shoulders when they walk. We all have things like this, they are often very personal and they are very easy to miss if we are not looking for them but when you know your going to need something you tend to keep an eye out for it. Whatever I'm working on this week started out like that, a little sketch I did that just sort of stood out to me. Every tree starts out as a seed but a seed can be very easily overlooked.
Week 2, Day 1
Sometimes you do something not for its own sake but in direct reaction to something else. I can't help but feel like that is what my approach is going to be this week. I don't so much have a clear idea of what I want to do as I have a clear idea of what I don't want to do, which makes me wonder if they are really the same thing. It seems odd but I don't actually think I have ever worked everyday for an entire week on one thing, in terms of my own art, and my own self imposed deadlines anyway. It's funny how there are things I would never do while working for someone else that I regularly do working for myself. If I left as many things unfinished while on the clock of an employer as I do on my own time I think I would have fired me a long time ago. This double standard bothers me. Maybe that's why I keep doing these projects, to push myself to be better. Or at least to better understand the importance of diligence. Some principals are transferable. If you learn them in one context you can easily apply them to another. Diligence is like that. Once when I was feeling very overwhelmed with a project a very wise person told me that diligence was a slow consistent chipping away and that everyone was capable of achieving it. The key was being to be consistent, which is easier said than done. The first thing you will find out if you make an attempt to be diligent is that somedays you will feel like doing something and somedays you won't. Some days will be easy and some days will be hard and on the hard days you will be tempted to quit, you will be tempted to not follow through. The most common hurdle you will have to overcome is simple everyday inconvenience. For now I just need to decide where to start.
Week 1, Day 7
Week 1 completed.
Search Me Out
18" x 24"
ink, acrylic and spray enamel on paper
(2015)
Week 1, Day 6
Week 1, Day 5
I ended up just moving on with the inking.
Just two days left finish this up and I feel it coming together.
Working at this size has proven a bit tricky to ink with my current pen set up. I might have to explore some other options down the road to figure out a more suitable approach.
Week1, Day 4
I suppose I’m still getting into the feel of this thing. The drawing and the weekly approach but it feels much slower. There isn’t the immediate gratification of finishing something in one day. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. I suppose that’s the thing about trying something new, you don’t really know if it’s going to work or not. Imagine working on something for an entire year and not knowing if it was any good or not. Anyway, it took about an hour to transfer this to the final size which is 18” x 24”. I’m trying to decide if I should work it up a bit with a pencil or just start inking. It's been hard to sit and really focus this week, too much on my mind and I really have no idea where I'm going with this.
Week 1, Day 3
This might be it for this part. It’s pretty well along for this size. Once I redraw it at it’s final size of 18” x 24” I’ll be able to work out a few things that are still not where I want them to be. I’ll also be able to refine some details that are not worth sorting out here. I like drawing in blue pencil when I’m near the end of locking in a sketch. It helps to separate it out from the older pencil work and is somehow visually soothing.
Even though it’s come quite a way from the original 2” x 3” sketch it’s still clearly the same idea. I may not always have the time to fully work something out but regardless I find a way to get an idea in some tangible form that I can come back to later. These little thumbs I do whenever and wherever something strikes me as interesting. I’m always surprised what can come of the simplest scribbles.