Saturday, July 9, 2011

Feathers

Back on May 26th I posted a drawing of an imagined bird titled "Chicken Man".  Among the comments I received later was a tongue-in-cheek "jab" from a friend saying that the bird  should have had  more feathers. Even tho' and possibly because I have little experience picturing our feathered friends, I decided to take up the challenge.  My answer here may not be quite what he had in mind but here it is!

 In most of the works I've shown here in earlier postings, the drawings were done "live", - drawings of fellow music performance patrons, doctor's patients or  work straight from the artists' model.I like the immediacy of those works and for the most part avoid working from photographs. (Note: I do use my own photos in doing landscape paintings, simply because of difficulties working outside from my wheelchair)



Like most of my favorite painters, mostly "Plein Air" types, I enjoy working directly from nature but in this case I needed reference.  Online I found a great photo collection of the birds I find most interesting (crows and ravens) and made several preparatory pencil sketches, trying to capture their essential "feathered" characteristics.  Then I turned to ink.  So that the images became mine as opposed to being mere copies, did a few drawings in which I exaggerated those ideas. With more time the exaggerations could be pushed more but for the moment here are some of the results.  


"Art not only imitates nature, but also completes its deficiencies" (Aristotle)


"Art is an abstraction; as you dream amid nature, extrapolate from it and concentrate on what you will create." (Paul Gauguin)

2 comments:

  1. I love those big black birds! I like crows more because they are sleek. Ravens are a little too scruffy for me. I understand your interest in feathers(fuck you Gary! :) and how you draw inspired by real/pictorial life and make it your own. To see a Harpie eagle is on my bucket list. Those HUGE, angry looking animals pick off monkeys from trees! Sweet! Drawing them(and I have)is right up my alley. Nature's deficiencies? Not to contradict a great mind, but art is not perfect, and the reality of nature/The natural in itself, is.

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  2. Thanks Jo! I really love them! Also " your Garry comment! (Garry we ALL appreciate you!) Harpie Eagle? Tell me how to access your bucket!

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