Not NOT drawing. But drawing Nothing. Well ok, Not NOTHING. But bramble, thicket and backgrounds. Detritus. These are things that you cheat on in painting. That most people cheat on in painting. The Ruskin-ites would skoff at the lack of clarity and certitude. But every other painter I enjoy would greek in a wall of bramble and pull out a few details on the way towards moving in for some more iconic detail.
Where then do you go for briar and thicket in pen drawing? Winter is here in NY. It hasn’t snowed yet in the city but the brown is here and all the leaves have migrated. Leaving a skeletal underbrush. I’ve started to deal with the undercarriage. At this point without the cheats. Oh how i want my cheats.
The Fordham Cliffs are a series of bedrock drop-offs that sort of divide Manhattan. A section is only a few blocks away from the studio and that’s been my non-Central Park sketching location. The two drawings below were taken from the same vantage there. Drawing nothing…
- Ink at the Meer, Sept. 14, 2020 - September 21, 2020
- Merry Cary, 2019 - December 8, 2019
- Copse, Late Summer - October 1, 2014