Postcards From The Edge 2014

My drawing 'The world is wider than the walls we raise' will be available at this year's Postcards From The Edge exhibition and sale to benefit Visual AIDS. Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York, January 24-26. More here.

2014 Black & White Biennial at Exhibit A

Happy to have two original drawings, The Gift Within and Solstice, included in Exhibit A's 2014 Black and White Biennial. Here's the Elmira Star-Gazette's feature, and there's more on the gallery's Facebook page.  Exhibit A is located at 22 East Market Street, Corning, NY. The show opens Saturday, January 11, 6-8PM. Black and white attire is encouraged.  Hope to see you there!

Atlas Fantasy Art House

I'm very happy to be represented by Atlas Fantasy Art House, Carmel, Indiana. Atlas specializes in illustrator, science fiction and fantasy art, and represents many of the finest artists working in these fields.

A Higher Calling and five other original drawings are currently available at Atlas. Like the gallery's Facebook page to view the rest.  Contact gallery director Bill Niemeyer at 317-364-0833 for more information. 

Here & There

My drawings Rorrach's Glen and Home Is The Sailor are featured in Water, an exhibition of small works at the ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes. The show will be up through April 28 at The ARTS, 32 West Market Street, Corning NY. Thanks to exhibit curator Marc Dennis.

My drawing & flash Last Bell in the new Full of Crow. Thanks to FOC editor Lynn Alexander.

Chapel Bell

Chapel Bell
Charcoal & Graphite
3 ½”” x 2”, matted & framed to 7” x 5”
$450.00

It’s been awhile since I’ve worked this small and tight, and with West End’s annual Little Gems show coming up, a true miniature sounded like fun. I began this drawing by laying out the chapel’s belltower on a clean sheet of Strathmore Bristol Board with a very sharp #3 Dixon Ticonderoga graphite pencil. These pencils are a couple grades harder than the yellow #2s we all used in school, and create fine lines that erase cleanly. With the layout established, I lightened the lines with a kneaded eraser, and shingled the brightly lit surface of the roof with the same pencil. For the shadowed slope I switched to a very sharp, very hard HHH Wolf’s Carbon pencil that’s harder to keep sharp but produces marks a little darker than any of my graphites. The deepest shadows were darkened with HB General Charcoal pencils.

For me, the process of stippling is about adding a little, taking a little away, adding more. When a mark or area becomes too dark, I lighten it with a kneaded eraser shaped to a fine point- Essentially, stippling in the negative. Not quick work, but continuing to build up and adjust marks as needed creates layered surfaces with texture and depth.

The chapel’s roof and walls were created the same way. For the foreground evergreens I used a softer 6B General Charcoal pencil, lightening with a kneaded eraser, softening and blending with a Q-Tip, darkening again, definining further. The foreground wall, bushes and ground cover were established with charcoal pencils, refined with graphite. To create the effect of the farther trees receding into bright mist, I used only graphite pencils to keep values in those areas lighter. The trees’ shapes and mist, the lawn and path were refined and smoothed with kneaded erasers, progressively harder graphite pencils, finishing with a Staedtler 6H.

I began the drawing’s remaining background by loading a cotton ball with powdered charcoal, scrubbing off most of it on scrap paper, then applying what was left very lightly, barely brushing the paper. It’s a technique that borrows something from drybrush, creates a kind of dry wash that's not as smooth as watercolor, but provides a good foundation for a somewhat similar effect. I avoided the finished elements, and developed adjacent areas- along the chapel’s roofline, and at bottom left- with the Staedtler 6H.

And yes, I did remember to use my magnifier this time.

The thumbnail above should load an actual-size jpeg at most browser settings. Here's an enlargement.

Chapel Bell and other recent Mark Reep drawings will be available at West End Gallery’s Little Gems exhibit. The show runs from February 5- March 12; opening reception is Friday, February 5, 5:00- 7:30. If you're interested, call Lin, Hedy or Bridget at 607.936.2011.

Crossposted to West End Gallery's new blog WestEndTalk.

G C Myers at WEG

G C Myers, Dispatches
Acrylic; 6" x 18"

Now showing at West End Gallery, G C Myers’ exhibition Dispatches. La Petit Chou and I have both been fans of Gary’s work for some fifteen years now, and we each have our early favorites; at the moment, mine is the title piece, above. Gary’s posted comments on this and several other paintings on his blog redtree times- And while you’re there, check out his very kind words about my own work, here. Blushing still, I am, and doubtful of deservingness- Thanks, Gary. Means a lot. Opening reception for Dispatches is Friday, July 24, 5 - 7:30; preview the show on the gallery's website.

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

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.