Here are some more drawings from my very young self.
On the Subject of Drawing
As referenced in the title, this is a work-in-progress post.
Last month, I started another large drawing, based on a patchwork, stream of consciousness grouping of faces, which hover above trees in a park.
Initially, I wanted this to be a drawing, but I hit the end of the spool of paper before I could finish it. Here is Goose sitting on the drawing, for scale.
Then, I thought it would be interesting to animate it. The first problem I found was the praying mantis in the foreground. I envision using this as a background on the multi-plane camera stand. The second problem was the scale of the drawing was too large to effectively animate.
I made a smaller version, shown below.
I made a first pass of filming this on Sunday, showing movement and sound.
I think this works, such as it is, so I intend to do a “real” take, where I add and subtract from the drawing.
I met with Nicole, the Arts Supervisor for the Greenbelt Community Center Art Gallery, early in July to review plans for the amazing show “Where Two Worlds Touch: Drawing and Sculpture by Mary Baum, Jim Doran and Annie Farrar”, which is on display in Greenbelt, Maryland, until the end of October (more on that shortly).
I shared the large drawing of “A Reunion” with her, and outlined my hopes for using the space.
I stretched out for this show, quite literally, and made some long drawings on Tyvek with my upright drawing table. I had a few false starts, and I think I’ve come up with some improvements for version 2.0 of this table, but I love this process and the results.
All these drawings are on Tyvek. Here are a few process shots:
At the time of this writing, I’m almost finished with the installation and prep for the show.
Here are some process shots of the installation. Many, many thanks to my daughter Lily for being patient with me, as several weekends and many evenings were lost to hours of art making. She even helped with touching things up. And, most of all, thanks to Nicole for her collaborative approach to this show, for also being patient and flexible, and for her help with the installation. I am excited about the results, and have grown as an artist this summer. Thank you, both – I look forward to working with you in the future on new projects!
Many artists have difficulty drawing feet. Practice makes perfect, and on the heels (get it?) of completing my new drawing tables, I thought I’d dip a toe into that pool and have some fun with Tyvek, fishnets and feet.
I finally cut this scroll off after 8-10 pairs of feet (I don’t remember).
Next, I thought I try some toes.
I like the complexity of the fishnets, and the shape of the soles.
I am really happy with the way this one turned out: 
Oh, and while I was at it, I thought I should do a sandal – this one is made by Bernardo, a classic.
I will keep working on these, because there are just so many other foot related puns to share…it’s just so good for the sole.
I’ve been fascinated with long drawings for years. I like to buy the cheap rolls of paper from IKEA (MÅLA) and try to make one drawing that is 98′ long. There’s a connection between scroll drawing and animation, too. The linear flow of a narrative.
I’ve been wanting to work bigger, and with something more durable than kids’ drawing paper. I’ve used Tyvek over the years, and as I still have part of a roll from an old construction project, I decided to build an easel to hold and help me manage larger drawings.
This was my first attempt, using an old table top and an IKEA table/leg set I have in the basement. I decided that I didn’t need that much horizontal surface space, and I also needed something to hold rolls of paper.
Version two, shown below with a drawing in progress, works much better. With the scroll loaded into a 1/4″ piece of PVC pipe, I can work either right-to-left, or left-to-right, depending on which side of the table the scroll sits.
And here is the above drawing, finished:
I start with some small, thumbnail sketches to figure out what I want to do:
And then I transfer that idea onto the scroll, which I cut out, collage with other materials, etc.
