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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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Last week, I was all about the Round tailed Ground Squirrel, and as seen on instagram, this week, I've discovered the Harris Antelope Squirrel That doesn't really show it's cuteness...  Or how about... The Harris Antelope Squirrel is native to Arizona, New Mexico and some parts of northern Mexico. It looks very similar to a chipmunk, but is in fact a squirrel. They can be found in rocky desert areas and around cacti. They are always dashing around and looking adorable. But, when they get hot, they will find a cool shady area, and spread their legs out so their belly will touch the cool ground. This helps release the heat from their body, and explains their odd behavior. Well some of it...  So to celebrate my new favorite subject, I decided to take three different materials and explore how I want to share my love for it. The first material I used to convey the subject was charcoal:  Harris Antelope Squirrel in Charcoal See details Charcoal is a wonderful material to really grab the form, and showcase the values in the composition - but wasn't quite what I was looking for... Next, I tried some graphite and added a little wash to it...  Harris Antelope Squirrel with watercolor wash See details Then to really capture the personality of the Harris Antelope Squirrel, I decided to draw a more quirky pose, in just the simplicity of graphite:  Harris Antelope Squirrel in Graphite Graphite is one of my favorite mediums to render a subject in, the precision and value helps bring the creature to life.
A good wildlife drawing or painting is usually rendered quite well - but a great or even exceptional wildlife painting, I believe, captures the soul - the personality - the life of the subject. By doing the Harris Antelope Squirrel in three different mediums, I am able to explore different styles, textures, etc. that will help me find my way to share the soul, the personality, and the life of the subject - at least, how I see it or experience it. Most likely, these studies will lead to a larger pastel drawing or even a painting. I know for sure though, this little squirrel gives so much inspiration in it's tiny package, that I'll never stop wanting to draw or paint it! Over the summer I spent some time with a variety of different birds, while traveling around Europe. Here are a few sketches of some of the birds I saw:  Northern bald ibis  Peacock  Young dunlin  Grey Heron  Egyptian Goose more sketches and work coming soon, as soon as I go through the hundreds of photos I took!
I've traveled to some beautiful places over the last couple of years...
And along the way... I've met some interesting characters...
These encounters - maybe random, maybe intentional - have been unique, special and inspiring. To have the chance to really meet the personality that lives inside a Big Horn sheep that grazes inches away from you. To accidentally trip over a tortoise (hey it happens)... or to feed an ostrich and pet a Harris Hawk... all of them remind you that the spirit of life is beyond our little reality we define as society, culture, or humanity. We share this planet with incredible creatures, all great and small, and we forget that. Sure we remember the dogs and cats we feed, but when was the last time we shared space with the wild without fear? Fear - from them, or fear from us. That's the source of thought and inspiration behind a new collection of pastel drawings I'm exhibiting at the Verde Brewing Company this spring. The exhibit opens March 3rd for their first Art & Beer dinner. Here are some of the drawings...
 River Otters Every so often, I spend some time at the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert, AZ. The Riparian Preserve in Gilbert, Arizona, is the best place to see adorable Cottontail rabbits doing their thing....
It is also a beautiful place to see waterfowl. Especially during the fall, when it is migration season. Usually you can see mallard ducks, coots, cormorants, snowy egrets, black-necked stilts, blue herons, black-crowned night herons, and killdeers. Over the last year, I have also seen American avocets, ring-necked ducks, ruddy ducks, pintail ducks, sandpipers, yellowlegs, great egrets, Canada geese, dowitchers, shovelers, and green herons. Over the last year, I have also learned the names of these birds. (I may be dating a bird artist..)  Even though I have apparently become a bird watcher this past year, that was not the goal of this weekend's adventure to the Riparian preserve. Instead, my intention was to sit down and do quick colored pencil drawings of these lovely little models.
 And I soon realized... that the only waterfowl that sits still long enough to draw is a mallard duck pretending to sleep.   So like any other artist frustrated with the model.. I turned to a new muse...   And went on to doodle other non-moving subjects....
Because that's how the girlfriend of a bird artist spends her afternoon -- drawing everything and anything that doesn't move. While he makes beautiful sketches and drawings of birds...
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