Uncut

A snapshot of beginnings, and process- The raw scan of Unfailing, with the undeveloped surroundings cropped from the finished drawing. Click on the jpeg for an enlargement.

Engines Of Dream

Engines Of Dream
Charcoal, Graphite; 5 1/8” x 5 1/8”
$900.

Every now and then, I need to do something like this. Let’s see what happens if, and then, and then. Good days, everything you try seems to work.

When that momentum slows, I’ll find myself overthinking: Deciding some aspect of the drawing doesn’t really make sense, work as well as I’d initially thought with its context, or whatever. Good time to stop, usually. Tomorrow I’ll see more clearly what’s worthwhile.

Fallen

A hard winter on Fall Creek: The path along the south shore of Beebe Lake is torn up, and downstream, the old Hydraulics Lab has finally fallen. Startling to look down from the Thurston Avenue bridge and find it gone. A little sad, too. Before and afters, from the Cornell Sun and Ithaca Journal.

Not far from the bridge, someone's Post-it note, detailing their own hard winter:

I’ve slipped & fallen 5 times
1) black ice 7AM Weill Research
2) down backstairs of Baker Hall coming out of my 1st chem review session
3) in wet, slick, mushy snow on my way to Risley
4) powdery snow & deer to Risley Hall
5) missed a step going down Hollister (math)

Three new drawings- Loch Traignarry Light, Rorrach’s Glen, and Unfailing- will be available at the upcoming exhibition at West End Gallery. Featured artists are Brian Keeler, James Ramsdell, Wilson Ong, and Marc G. Rubin. Opening reception: Friday, March 20, 5:00-7:30; the show runs through April 24. For more, visit westendgallery.net

Unfailing

Unfailing
Graphite and Charcoal
2 1/4" x 4 1/4"
$350.

This drawing is the first of a new series, Beacons. Like most of my recent work, Unfailing was begun with charcoal dust, charcoal pencil; but by the time I'd decided what this drawing might best become, then finished bringing the elements into line- thinning shadow, softening light, smoothing mist- little was left of those charcoal beginnings. Nothing new, that. Often, beginnings are just that: A place to start. And if they don't lead anywhere unexpected, what fun would that be.

Tools include Dixon Ticonderoga pencils, grades 1-4; Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencils, 6H; kneaded erasers. The drawing measures 2 1/4" x 4 1/4", and is mounted in a white mat and matte black wood frame; framed size is 8" x 10". The jpeg should load at about actual size in most browsers.

Unfailing is available through West End Gallery, Corning, NY. If you're interested, call Lin or Hedy at 607.936.2011.

Rorrach's Glen

Rorrach's Glen
Charcoal, Graphite; 5" x 6 7/8"

On Effort

Thinking again about effort. All the drawings I’ve invested time and work in– often, more than I care to remember– before realizing they’re past going anywhere good. Easy to see those abandonded efforts as at least largely wasted; easy to be frustrated, angry at my inefficiency. What’s learned, retained, will find its way into subsequent projects, and that’s something. But it never seems enough.

An early collector of my drawings once told me, “It’s nice to see something someone put some work into.” Yeah. Me too.

Of course, there’s the other side of that coin: Working the life right out of a drawing. Most of the drawings I’ve abandoned have died of overworking. Bad choices that have to do with direction are often correctable. Failing to recognize when something’s as good as I’ll be able to make it is a call I have more trouble making. And by the time I realize my mistake, it’s often hard to undo the damage I’ve done.

Sometimes the best, most lively work is the quickest. I admire painters who can capture the essence of a landscape or likeness very quickly. I wish I could work like that. Keep from getting sidetracked, making wrong turns.

But then, those turnings are why I draw. Without those explorations, whatever discoveries they lead to– some productive, some not so much– there’d just be way too many tiny little marks. Overreaching, falling short is disappointing. But much less is tedium.

The challenge remains the same: To consistently recognize that point when whatever I’m working on, part or whole, is as good as I can make it. When it’s time to dismiss further possibilities, attempts to make this or that just a little better. Time to leave well enough alone.

Sometimes there’s nothing to show for the time, the work, and if I’ve learned anything, I don’t know what. I made the effort, that’s all. And that has to be enough.

No Time For Whiners

Overheard in Borders SF/Fantasy section:
Girl: You know what I hate about this series?
Boy: What?
Girl: The heroine is such a whiny bitch. It's like, 'Rhapsody, just suck it up...' I didn't even get through the third book.

Above the urinal in the men’s at CTB, a Sharpied stick figure, sketchy but conspicuously male, hangs by one arm from a cluster of balloons bearing him aloft. I rise, and piss on you all...

Scrawled on the plywood-covered door of a West Delaney bar:
FARTSLAM TONIGHT! EGG UP!

The Night Watchman's Garden

The Night Watchman's Garden
Graphite, Charcoal; 2 5/8" x 3 5/16"

The Navigator's Dream

The Navigator’s Dream
Charcoal, Graphite; 2 5/8” x 1 5/8”

Restless, the Navigator dreams:
A wider night, uncharted deeps:
No silent stars, but far faint bells:
Could he only learn to still himself enough,
and listen

At 2 5/8" x 1 5/8", this drawing is the smallest I've done in awhile. The jpeg should load at actual size at most browser settings. Both The Navigator's Dream and At Morning's Gates will be in Little Gems.

At Morning's Gates

At Morning’s Gates: Somers Observatory, 1925
Graphite; 4 5/8” x 2 3/8”

Little Gems

February 6 - March 13, 2009
Opening Reception: Friday, February 6, 5:00 - 7:30 PM.
West End Gallery, 12 West Market Street, Corning NY

Top: Edd Tokarz Harnas, Orbit of the Eye; Joanne Sonsire,
Summer Lace. Middle: Parnilla Carpenter, Autumn's Ornaments II;
Mark Reep, Lost Dream. Bottom: Bridget Bossart van Otterloo,
Chili Peppers; G.C. Myers, Light Beings.

For more, visit westendgallery.net

Treman Park

Treman Park, Ithaca, in early October.

Tanglewood In Autumn

Tanglewood Nature Center, Elmira, in early October.

Top Ten Reasons Why I Stipple

10. I can't draw a straight line to save my life

9. I was just trying to bang some life back into my pen, and this happened

8. It runs in the family. And not that many of us were ever institutionalized, at least for long, so it can't be that bad...

7. Chicks dig dots

6. I thought this was a drywalling class

5. It's so weird, somebody's gotta wanna buy it

4. If I screw up, the mistakes are so small nobody'll notice 'em anyway

3. It's wonderfully therapeutic and relaxing, I've become a much calmer, kinder person- Waddya mean I've still got a ways to go? HUH? WADDYA MEAN BY THAT??!!

2. Hey, I may be legally blind, but at least I qualify for disability now

1. Helen Hunt said it best, on Mad About You: I'm not nuts- I'm THOROUGH.

Aleta Wynn Yarrow

Aleta Wynn Yarrow, Guardians
Acrylic; 18" x 36"

This month, West End Gallery showcases Aleta Wynn Yarrow. At first glance, our work may not seem to have a lot in common- For starters, Aleta’s is often bold and colorful; mine, well, not so much. But our work shares, I think, some essential themes: An appreciation of nature’s beauty, of the value of quiet places, quiet times, and the importance of mysteries and dreams. Aleta’s work has always seemed to me to be both uncompromisingly personal and consistently positive, and I Dream of Ordinary Things continues to reflect these qualities, too. The show will be up through January 10. For more, visit Aleta’s website.

More on quiet places, time alone at G. C. Myers’ Redtree Times.

Lightfall

Lightfall
Charcoal, Graphite, Ink; 2008
8 1/2" x 5 1/4", 14" x 11" frame
$1200.00

This drawing will also be in the Sparkle of Christmas show at West End Gallery.

Tattoo 2

Tattoo 2
Ink; 1" x 3"
2004

Two short prose pieces, The Umbrella of the Future and Alder Run, are up at Ink Sweat and Tears.

Hawthorn

Hawthorn
Ink, Graphite, Charcoal; 5 5/16" x 2 5/16"
2004

Looking for unframed work for the show at WEG, I found a few other things I'd forgotten. Time and distance bring new perspective- Not always kind, but usually instructive. And sometimes, there are pleasant surprises, too.

Elsewhere, things are going swimmingly at Lara Pawson's new blog, Museum of Doubt. And yes, that's a Markie, and I'm honored.

New to the links list is G. C. Myers' blog Redtree Times. RT is very Gary: Thoughtful, engaging, encouraging, generous with reflection and insight into his approach to artmaking and the life of a working artist. Good stuff.

Good stuff too at Gloom Cupboard #69: New poems by Justin Hyde, Emily Smith, Alishya Almeida, Mignon Ariel King, and my drawing-and-text Lost Dream.

Inn of the Seven Graces

Inn of the Seven Graces
Charcoal, Graphite; 5" x 4"; 10" x 8" framed. $800.00

Enlarged for detail; the drawing's actual size is 5" x 4".

Parnilla Carpenter

Parnilla Carpenter, Autumn Lights
Colored Pencil, 6 1/2" x 4 1/2"