Day 7

Today's drawing was a lot of fun. As I looked through some of my older nonrepresentational drawings, I was "drawn" to (pun kind of intended) the loose, sketchy, almost agressive style of these pieces. They were made with charcoal and a great deal of erasing, and the style could best be described as "stream of consciousness." Obviously a self-portrait has a subject, which is prohibitive of simply drawing what comes to mind. While this drawing is more controlled than those that were my inspiration today, I did strive to keep this drawing fairly loose. This is a concept that I will definitely revisit and expand upon as the project continues...

# 7 October 27, 2010,  Charcoal, conte and eraser on paper

Sounds: The Beatles, 1967-1970 (Blue) Remastered


_____

As I stated in the post for Day 2, I am a huge music fan. If you notice, I have been listing what music I've listened to while making each day's drawing. These are also links which lead to amazon.com where you can listen to samples of the music and even purchase your own copy if you like!

Day 5

I used another of my favorite drawing tools on yesterday's portrait, and the experience led me to today's piece...and two thoughts.

First, I am a strong believer in serendipity: things happening as they may. Because of my work on the drawing from the day before, I was prompted to do the one today. In a sense, "nothing comes from nothing" because it seems like more often than not, one thing really does lead to another.

Secondly, I should probably mention which art material it is that I love so much. It is the eraser. Far too often people believe that an eraser is nothing more than a "mistake fixer." In reality, MOST of today's self-portrait was done with an eraser. It is a challenging process because the artist has to work in reverse by removing darker tones to reveal the lighter ones, but the finished product is more than worth it!

#5 October 25, 2010,  Charcoal and eraser on paper
Sounds: Butch Walker, Sycamore Meadows