“Single Bell”

Silverpoint Drawing
5×7″ gray-greenprepared paper

Lots of drawing lately – of bells and whistles! I love the negative space of these objects, the dark hollow…more to come.

“Single Bell” was drawn with a silver stylus – a drawing medium known as silverpoint, which pre-dates the pencil. This technique was used extensively during the Renaissance era, though some of the earliest silverpoints date back to the 12th century.

I prepared the paper with a gray-green tone and heightened the drawing with white charcoal. To learn more about Silverpoint and to see the box and tools that I made please visit my website.

“Three Acorns”

Acrylic Painting
4.5×6.5″ panel, framed

This is the earliest of the acorn paintings that I did a few years ago. You don’t see it in this photo but the edges of the painting are beveled and I designed the frame so that the painting panel “floats” off the back panel.

Please email me if you are interested in this one.

“Acorn”

Oil Painting
6×6″

Since I’ve been focused on acorns lately, I thought I’d show you an earlier painting. I try to see each object or scene as if for the first time, without a formula or rule.

Some of you may wonder about the discipline involved in these daily paintings and silverpoint drawings – and the pressure to “produce” work to post on art blogs. I paint and draw nearly every day but am not always happy with the results. Many a painting gets scraped off and many a drawing gets tossed that I don’t feel is working – or that I’m asleep to. It’s best to put it aside and turn to something else that inspires you. Go back later and try to re-connect. But, sometimes running it through the band saw feels like the perfect thing to do! Let it go and move on.

Most of the time: the more you look, the more you see. There are layers and depths of understanding all throughout the creative process!

Check out my previous posts on acorns: Nov. 28 and Oct. 30.