My father died the end of September. During the winter that followed I found spending days alone in the studio very difficult. What I could do was stand outside in the landscape and paint. My paints froze, I froze, but looking and painting was what I could do. I wanted to find a way back into my studio and my aspen-tree based work and so this series of drawings was started, back inside, looking out at a subject that had been the focus of my work for the last few years.
I tell my drawing students to draw everyday even if they only have five minutes, a scrap of paper and a ballpoint pen. When they tell me they don’t know what to draw I tell them that where there is nothing to draw there is everything to draw. This is a variation on what John Ruskin said about art – “Art here teaches us as so often before, that where there is nothing to enjoy there is also everything to enjoy”. In the past I have drawn the contents of my closet or my garbage can. Observing and recording the shapes, textures, patterns and lines I found there. These random spontaneous choices of what to draw are one approach to keep the practice of drawing part of your everyday life.
On March 20th, the first day of spring, I started drawing the trees out my window everyday, for five minutes or an hour or more, when I was sick, or inspired and through this practice I found myself noticing things I had not seen before. This other choice, the drawing over and over again of the same subject is very freeing. I could explore more abstract and ambiguous ideas like the “map of aspen markings” or focus on capturing patterns of light. Small series within the larger series evolved. Ideas for future works like the “spindle” series have come from this exploration through drawing.*
The format, 11″ x 11″, was consistent but I used different mediums and papers. For the most part I stayed with values, not color. The consistency and limit I imposed upon the series allowed for greater freedom to try black and white mediums I don’t usually use. My drawings are usually tonal and I found myself using a steel nib pen and India ink and different types of drawing pens.
This series of perceptual drawings based on direct observation was exhibited in June of 2006. The show was installed two weeks before the end of summer. Every day, after the opening, I added a drawing until there were a total of 96 drawings, one for each day of spring.
