Stop Trying Again

At the close of this session, elements above and below the little wood seem better integrated, and I like the height and flow of the columns at left.  I eliminated a stand-alone column I couldn’t make work in the last session, and deepened the darks in that area to feature a new outcropping topped with an evergreen.

Whether I can make a given element work is another indicator whose worth I weigh.  I liked that stand-alone colum, but no shape I tried seemed satisfying.  Each successive stage of a drawing is another draft,  and I revise a lot.  But sometimes, when nothing I try makes an element work, I need to discard it.  Usually when I recognize that, reach for the Big Eraser, whatever I’ve given opportunity to happen instead comes much more easily, and complements its context better.

I haven’t kept track of time spent on this drawing, but the last two scans represent about twelve hours’ work.

Knowing When To Stop

A cold gray day, and a six-hour afternoon session. Separating larger masses- the stone columns, wooded slope- into individual outcroppings, ledges, trees. Looking to make each the best I can, while keeping its values and impact in line with the whole.  Leaning back, viewing the drawing at distance makes needed adjustments apparent: Too-darks that need lightening, and vice versa. As always, half the trick's knowing when to stop.

Small Choices

A late evening session, only a couple hours at the end of the day: You work when you can, and often those times are as productive as any. Tonight, no big decisions, but many small choices, developing detail along the benches and below, adjusting values. I'm happy with their cumulative effect, how the components I worked with tonight are evolving, beginning to separate, assert their own character, reveal what they'll contribute to the whole.   

Trusting Fun

Here’s a stitched jpeg- from four 8 ½” x 11” scans- of tonight’s session. No more waterlines for this drawing. I liked this place as an island or promontory, but not the resulting shape or composition- And just as importantly, neither of the waterlines I tried were fun.  Had I paid more attention to that the first time, I might have made better use of the time I spent trying the second. 

Fun is underrated.  The kinds of depth, detail, effects, surfaces etc I want to achieve are work.  I don’t mind; at its most patience-stretching it’s still work I love, and the result is usually satisfying, worth the time and effort invested.   But sometimes I forget the importance, at least in an element’s developmental stages, of simply enjoying, having fun drawing this.  Fun is an indicator  I need to trust more.  If I’m not having enough, maybe I should be trying something else.  Tonight’s session was big fun.  I’m excited about what this place has become, and looking forward to whatever happens next.

Cornell's Beebe Lake Overlook & Sackett Footbridge

The Beebe Lake Overlook and Sackett Footbridge comprise one of the most beautiful places on Cornell University's campus. I've taken many photographs here; this is 2013's first. Postcards, prints, and posters available at Redbubble.  More Postcards from Cornell.