 Arctic blast, diptych (2) 8x10” acrylic and string on canvas Recently the universe gave me a little push of inspiration to create a new Natural Disaster Painting - and it wasn’t just the freezing temperatures that have been pushing me into hibernation 🥶 In February, the central part of North America experienced an arctic blast that plunged temperatures into below freezing for days. From frozen cacti in Texas to blizzard conditions north into Manitoba, it was cold... so so cold. According to weather.gov, “Over 3,000 daily cold records were set across the USA, with around 80 all-time record cold readings.” Here in Iowa, I experienced the coldest temperatures I’ve ever felt (-27F!) and blustery winds became a new normal. Fortunately the weather changes quickly and although it’s still very much winter in Iowa, the temperatures are above freezing again and there’s hope for spring. But the Arctic blast was for sure a natural disaster - though minuscule compared to other disasters. But I feel it needed to be included in the natural disaster series. For all the hearts that were bruised and/or lost, this painting is for them. I haven’t created a natural disaster painting in a while, not that there is a loss for inspiration for a new one with everything that is going on in the world - I’ve just been focused on birds and urban wildlife. Subjects that bring me joy and peace. But a week or so ago, a class asked me what my process was for making a natural disaster painting. A question I could easily run off an answer to a couple of years ago, but at that moment, I didn’t have the words, I just had the urge. The urge to paint this particular disaster. A feeling I haven’t felt in a long time. I’ve felt inspired to paint wildfire art, but that art has been more realism than abstract in the last couple of years. It has felt like the ability to make something abstract died in me – the candle burned out. I just didn’t have the steam. When I tried, it was mostly failures with a few cubic zirconias mixed in – paintings that at first glance look like diamonds, but at closer inspection, just imitations. Though when I painted this, a flame was reborn. A deep in the heart knowing and awareness just reappeared like an old friend. Abstract art is not just throwing paint on a canvas; abstract art like all well thought out art, requires a nod to the elements of art, design, and so on. But great abstract art – at least for me – has always been letting the paint flow from within – letting the subconscious tackle the rules and the conscious focus on the spirit from within. A familiar home that I’m glad to have returned to. Who knew freezing temperatures would lead me back to abstraction, especially since I’m more desert cottontail than arctic hare…  Arctic Blast as 'one' canvas...
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 Standing Ground, 8x10”, Pastel Did you know our national mammal, aka the largest land mammal in North America - the American Bison is a keystone species? American Bison use to live across our prairie lands in the millions – some say up to 30 million bison once roamed at a time. And by grazing, they helped stimulate plant growth while their hooves packed in the soil and opened up new areas for seeds to take root. Pretty cool, huh?
May 16th is Drawing day – which may have originated as National Drawing Day somewhere but has been adopted as just “Drawing Day” across social media. This day could celebrate the act of drawing or the art of drawing. But drawing is a funny word. Merriam-Webster has many definitions of drawing, among them, it defines drawing as “the art or technique of representing an object or outlining a figure, plan, or sketch by means of lines” and to draw as “to produce a likeness or representation of, by making lines on a surface“ or even more simply, “to create a likeness or a picture in outlines.“ By these definitions, anything representational or marked on a surface could be a drawing, as long as it is made with lines and has a likeness to its subject.  By definition, this is a drawing, a drawing of a goose... Though once you put pigment in the definition, you have a painting. So, pastel drawings are not drawings but paintings, but sumi ink drawings are drawings and not a painting? A quick google search and one would assume pencil, charcoal, pen, and anything related to those three would be considered drawing materials because there is no pigment (or color.) However, art supply companies consider pastel, colored pencil and markers drawing tools. So, if I create lines with watercolor markers, am I drawing or painting?  Is this a drawing or a painting because I used watercolor markers? If we take the definition of drawing literally, it does avoid addressing materials or color, so could anything with lines and marks really be considered a drawing? Definitions limit everything. Though they have a place, nothing ever fits perfectly into it's definition - especially when considering art.  Jellyfish painted with graphite - so drawing? For me, as an artist that works in watercolor, charcoal, graphite, ink, acrylic, gouache, oil, string, pastel, colored pencil, markers, and anything else that inspires me, I don’t think I’ve ever let the definition of drawing define what I consider a drawing. And looking across the art world, I don’t think the art world has ever defined what a drawing can or cannot be. Contemporary drawing focuses primarily on the act of using lines, and less on the likeness or representational part of the definition – but in many cases, just pure mark making with no intentional line or shape has been classified as a drawing.  A 'pure' drawing in graphite. In my work, I tend to be confident to call anything I create with charcoal or graphite a drawing, but the rest of the work I make, I might call it a drawing or a painting, or just a work of art. In 2018, every day I made a drawing for my #365daysofDrawing project, but I did not stick to using just charcoal, pencil, or ink to create these drawings. I used my tablet, pastels, watercolor, pencil, marker and everything in between. I use Pastel Painting and Pastel Drawing interchangeably when I exhibit my pastel work. Most of the time though, I call them paintings because unfortunately when you classify a work of art as a drawing, it doesn’t get the same appreciation as it would if you use the word painting. Which I’ve never understood.  Pastel drawing or Pastel Painting? Or just a cute black-tailed prairie dog? Ultimately, the definition of what a drawing is doesn't matter. At the end of the day, whether it's a drawing or a painting, it is still a work of art. And as a work of art, it is an opportunity to experience magic - for the viewer when seen or for the artist when created. Thankfully a day like Drawing Day or National Drawing Day is a way to single out drawing and give it the appreciation it deserves, even if the definition is a little fuzzy. So whether you create a pure drawing today or appreciate a drawing masterpiece, celebrate Drawing Day and the incredible, beautiful ideas that come out of our imagination and onto a piece of paper or some kind of surface. An act we've been doing for oh I don't know, the last 36,000 years or so.  Colored pencil, so drawing or not? |
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January 2023
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