On the Subject of Drawing

Large scale drawings

Post author By Jim Doran
Post date August 26, 2018

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.

A reunion prototype drawing

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:

Tree

Pine Island

4 Horsemen Legs

The four horsemen

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!

20' of Tyvek

Leezle and my horsemen

Leezle Touching up

Pine Island, pre-install

Tags exhibit, four horsemen, tyvek

Posted in Drawing

Feet Drawings

Post author By Jim Doran
Post date February 20, 2018

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.

Giant Feet Drawing

More feet, fishnets

Lending a hand for scale

I finally cut this scroll off after 8-10 pairs of feet (I don’t remember).

Next, I thought I try some toes.

Pink Fishnets and gray nail polish

Yellow Fishnets and green nail polish

Blue nail polish and orange fishnets

I like the complexity of the fishnets, and the shape of the soles.

Fishnet soles

PINK fishnet soles

I am really happy with the way this one turned out: Fishnets on soles, up.

More fishnets

Oh, and while I was at it, I thought I should do a sandal – this one is made by Bernardo, a classic.

Bernardo Lilly Sandal Drawing

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.

Tags feet, fishnets, tyvek

Posted in Drawing

Scrolling, scrolling, scrolling

Post author By Jim Doran
Post date February 11, 2018

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.

IKEA MÅLA paper

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.

Drawing Easel

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.

Version 2 of my drawing table