A reactionary drawing

                                     
Here is a drawing like I might have done back when I was in school......when I did my best work.  I started with the idea of reproducing an old watercolor in pastel.  Before long I was totally disgusted, abandoned the project, then went after it again an hour or so later.  I love the results, though I can't tell if it is just because it is a relief after my recent efforts.  Whatever........

Another Artist Painting

                                                                   
Well I think I've taken this pastel thing to its zenith and back down again.  This looks like an illustration in a book, not a piece of art.   I guess I've proven to myself and the world that I can draw, for what that's worth.  Look at those hands and feet........wow!  Look at the glasses, how subtle and yet obvious.  The shadows, nice complimentary colors.  The subject looks natural, relaxed.  The sense of light real and yet somewhat dramatic.  Like hundreds of thousands of others I can draw a nice picture.

I have to say I enjoy this sort of thing, but after awhile it sickens me like too much candy.  I hope I have had enough.  I hope I can stop before I throw up.

Spider Plants

My spider plants really need their portrait taken.  The Christmas cactus, which I got when Jesse was a baby 37 years ago, is kind of tired but manages to keep going.  It has two offspring residing in the living room.  They are small, but certainly look at life with more exuberance.

Another Approach

Well, here's my next idea with pastel.  I did this one in charcoal with the express purpose of putting pastel over it.  I can't seem to quit experimenting.  This is a much bigger drawing, maybe 24x36, taken from the same book of Rockport artists I used before.  I worked on it for two days for many hours, taking pictures of the progression as I went along.  It's interesting to see how it changed.  Last night I thought it was finished, but this morning I wanted to go on, and did, for another couple of hours.

I have several other things I ought to be doing, and tore myself away from the easel to work on them off and on over the past few weeks.  It has been warm enough to work outside and I did a little gardening.  I also re-constructed the chicken pen.  The new configuration has worked so far to keep Penny inside, but Bonnie and Blackie have taken a few excursions.  Their escape route is quite obvious, though, and I've been able to plug it up, albeit unaesthetically.     At some point in the near future I hope to find a practical and acceptable-looking solution.  Penny has been thwarted by  preventing her from getting onto the roof of the chicken house.  I put some chicken wire up there and held it down with an old wooden ladder.  As I look out the window now, though, I see some of the wire has blown away.  My guess is that Penny is now running around the neighborhood.  I must go check...........                                                        

New Idea

No matter what else I think I have to do, I seem to be obsessed with drawing.  Today after looking at the website of a New York Gallery I was inspired to do something a little different, preferably abstract.  I have trouble with that because I lack the vocabulary.  So I thought of blowing up parts of my paintings until they looked abstract, then using that as subject matter.  When I tried it, I became enthralled with the magnification of the details of the paintings.  Realist that I sadly am, I still liked the representational elements.  So I printed out portions of former paintings and drew them with charcoal and pastel.  The top one was interesting in that the edge of the paper showed in the photo, adding an abstract element that I decided to use.

As for the second one......well, I'm not so sure.  It's a little piece of the painting I did of my living room.  I liked the shapes and meant to make an abstract out of it.  Once I got going, though, all I could see was the chairs......so there they are.

Boring Work

I did all four of these over the last two days.  I don't know what I am trying to do, but whatever it is, I haven't found it.  The first one is pastel over charcoal, the second is just charcoal, and the last two are just pastel.  They are all on flimsy paper, although it is art paper of good quality.  Any or all of them could be thrown in the trash, yet I am compelled to do something.  I'm obviously experimenting with different mediums, but I really have no subject matter that inspires me.  I guess all of my mental faculties are focused on Lytton's death.

By the way, all of the pictures are somewhat elongated......my computer screen makes things either too long or too short.  I have no idea if there's anything I can do about it.  I have only found two adjustments.

Tomorrow is Easter.......if only Lytton would rise from the dead.