Sunday, January 29, 2017

A Rare Winter Drawing

Everybody who knows me knows that I am not a fan of winter.  Short days and inclement weather keep me indoors.  Not that I mind being indoors, just not this much, I need some outdoor time too and during the winter I get very little.  I'll admit, I have a very low tolerance for cold, freezing especially so it doesn't have to be dark or snowing or even windy to keep me indoors, just cold. It's probably for those reasons that winter makes a rare appearance in my art, this is one of those rare occurrences.

art drawing charcoal winter truck abandoned snow

"Snowbound GMC"

6" X 6", charcoal on paper

I discovered this little scene with the old snow covered GMC grain truck in the small, rural town of Eden, Utah a couple years ago.  The background was actually cluttered with modern vehicles in a parking lot, I changed it to a simple natural background.  The dimensions on this one are 6" X 6", a small a square, I might make a series of drawings in this format.


Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Enter the Forest

I've been a bit slack about the blog, a little slack in general really but at least I recently finished another charcoal drawing.

art drawing charcoal mountain forest evergreen tree nature

"Enter the Forest"

charcoal, 10" X 8"

This drawing is based on a photo taken during one of my many hikes up in the Wasatch Mountains.  This one in particular was taken up above Lake Mary at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon.  I love how the density of the evergreen tree forest creates a sense of mystery about what one might find when following the path therein.  I tried to enhance the mood by making the drawing even darker than the photo, being black and white also enhances that effect.

I have a large drawing on the easel as well that I pick at every now and then.  Here is a work in progress photo of it.
art drawing charcoal WIP forest nature tree

As you can see it's going to be a mysterious forest drawing also.  I believe it will end up being in the neighborhood of 22" X 16".  Here is a close up of an area that is now mostly finished.

art drawing charcoal WIP detail forest nature tree

So you can see I'm still going strong on my charcoal kick.  I love the simplicity and kinds of mood that can be created with this basic yet challenging medium.  My charcoal fascination my never end.