Letter From Exile

Letter From Exile
Charcoal, Graphite; 5 1/8" x 5 1/8"

Outfall

Outfall
Charcoal; 7 1/2" x 11 1/2"

I've wanted to work like this for awhile. Less finished, more suggested- More room, you could say, to dream. Sounds easy, doesn't it: Just loosen up.

Flash links:

E. K. Entrada's Morris Sees A Furrier: A Love Story, Keyhole Magazine
Pamela Painter's Office At Night, Smokelong Quarterly

Crossing

Crossing
Charcoal, Graphite; 7 3/4" x 6 7/8"

Restless

The horses are restless they
long to be running they
don’t like this place and they
know night is coming

Anybody know what we’re
waiting for?

Available Light

Tom, 1989
35 mm photo

A favorite portrait. Tom was a great subject: A (much more accomplished) photographer himself, he understood available light, and he could sit very very still.

Lost Roads

I’m reading about lost Roman roads in a back issue of Smithsonian when a man and a woman come into the waiting room. She’s sixtyish, her hair an unconvincing auburn; his hair and beard are an honest white, but his face less lined than hers, and I wonder if he’s her husband, or her son. She tells the receptionist his name, takes a clipboard, sits down beside him to fill out forms. When was your last dental visit? she says. He thinks about it, shakes his head slowly. Five years? she says. He nods, probably, okay. He’s wearing clean jeans, a long-sleeved denim workshirt with the wrists buttoned. He’s not tall, not fat, just thick, like he’s laid a lot of block, had a few beers most nights for awhile. Do your gums bleed? she says. He stares out the window. Nods. She looks up from the clipboard. Honey, I can’t hear you when you shake your head, she says. He nods again. His eyes are empty. She checks something on the clipboard. What is your general dental health? she says. He’s silent, nearly motionless, but his thick white hands slowly open, close. Your dental health, she says again: Poor? He nods. I look away, leaf through the Smithsonian. Are you happy, she says, with your smile?

No Sorrowful Way

No Sorrowful Way
Charcoal, Graphite; 8 1/2" x 11"

New drawing, first I've finished since late July. This one's been on the drawing table awhile, lingering at various stages. Much as I do, actually.

The title intends no disrespect; I expect Jesus has had his fill of sorrow too.