Autumn Arrives at the Meer

I was fortunate to make it to the Meer twice this last week.  Once, en route to dinner downtown and with limited materials.  And the second time, yesterday for the end of Summer and the birth of Autumn.

 

With a couple of black pens and no water brush, I decided to try a halftone, crosshatch of the Bad Tree and the southern point.  Very rough but I like it.  This seemingly arbitrary Rorschach blocking is something i used to do a lot in painting.  Interesting that i would reintroduce this to drawing.  

Again, the Bad Tree, from day 2.  This from the proper side.  Spent more time on this than i would have liked but when i got home, i really enjoyed looking at the detail.  Maybe the most (best?) tree-like tree drawing I’ve done.  Leads me again to a question that i keep coming back to… do i draw the way i paint; or do i draw the way i draw? Also, from Day 2, to start things off was a wide vista of the Southern Shore.  Duet of trees to the left; Bad Tree on the far right; cast of characters in between.  I quite like the way the reeds on the left side frame this composition, which is why i come back to this arrangement over and over again.  I’m still wanting for a better gray.  I tiptoe up to dealing with the sky and the water well in this but still feel chained.I’m making a concerted effort to quicken things up.  Speed is a useful tool.  It’s dangerous to just take the time you want on a drawing.  Because often you don’t have the time.  I will be doing more speed drawings in this 2nd year.  Below is a -10min drawing of the island.  It’s from that first day and devoid of grays.  The dark peppering isn’t working.  But the scraggle works for me reflection.  Reminds me of the freeness of teenage drawing.  This carelessness is evident around the rest of this group of drawings. And as counterpoint, another very quick sketch.  This time of the Landing at the South Eastern corner of the Meer.  The single-point composition of it is too blatant for my tastes.  But the rolling verdant mess is compelling.

 

My days of rolling verdant mess are numbered.  Already the trees grow a little leaner.  The air dries and the wind picks up.  I feel anxious about wanting to spend more and more time at the Meer to watch the last of green ebb out of it.  What a wonderful experiment it’s been.