Large Tree Trunk Drawing

I'm trying to post once a week, but this week I have nothing new to show. I've been busy working all week, cutting up paper, gluing, but completed nothing. So instead, I found a photo of a drawing from last spring. This drawing was part of the tight, photo-realistic, cross hatching drawings of last winter/spring. It was the only large one from the snowy tree series. There are pencil notes along the margins, noting what I was listening to, and what I was watching over the six days it took to cross hatch the entire thing. The texture is pretty amazing in person.

Collage, Collage, Collage

I spent the last week making collages. Instead of cutting up old drawings, as I have been doing the last month, I now make drawings with the intention of cutting them up for future reassembly. In this case I made marks in India Ink with old cardboard, let it dry and cut it into strips. I had planned on further cutting the strips into squares but stopped at this stage because even I occasionally know when to stop. I'm thinking my usual June show at Las Manos will consist of collages.

Snow Day - January 12, 2012

It has been a very warm winter. So the blizzard on Thursday was a bit of a shock. Not an unpleasant shock, it was beautiful in many ways, but I was not quite prepared for the cold and wet. I made this panorama from the roof of the building at the intersection of Clark and Halsted in Chicago. The parking garage is on the top of that building and it is open to the elements. My hands were numb and my back pack covered with snow by the time I finished making the individual photos for this panorama. once again I've been looking at and thinking about maps, and wondering what is the role of photography in mapping our world.

New Collage - January 2012

Feeling better this week, got some work done, but I can't quite decide if and when things are finished. May cut this one up and rework it again. but as it stands now, has a direct relationship to the collage in the previous post. Has a very filmic quality to it. The size is 22 x 36, India Ink on paper.

I've been home with a cold all week....

...Not a debilitating cold, but annoying and persistent, it went on for over a week. I would feel good one day and lousy the next. I feel guilty, (about so many things), but mostly about wasting time. As an antidote, I worked on a new collage for four days, thank goodness I had the materials on hand as I was not up for heading out to the art supply store. Day one; I loosely brushed India Ink on some archival grey mat board. Day two; I cut the inked mat board into free-form strips and glued those strips onto a full sheet of grey mat board. Day three; I cut that board into precise two inch strips using a metal rule.. And day four, I rearranged and glue those strips onto the third and final sheet of grey mat board. The final collage is 40 x 32 inches. I see it as referencing digital media and there is also a nice visual playfulness about it.