Tuesday, December 18, 2007

THIS LONG VIGIL
















































The dignity of the artist lies in his duty of keeping awake the sense of wonder in the world. In this long vigil he often has to vary his methods of stimulation; but in this long vigil he is also himself striving against a continual tendency to sleep.

(Marc Chagall)



Although I sat down to draw from an image of Bob Dylan on "pause" from the video of the film, "No Direction Home," I found that I didn't want to draw from a "paused" image. Then Oboe jumped up on the table to curl up on the newspaper, warmed by the table lamp. I took that opportunity to try to draw her. My first two attempts made me wonder why I think I can draw. Fortunately, I remembered "contour drawing," after which I felt much happier with my ability to draw. I spent the entire hour on one piece of paper.

(1 hour drawing, 5:30 to 6:30 a.m. -- 6B pencil on heavy weight, medium tooth surface, 9 x 12 Canson drawing pad, while listening to "Chants of India," which plays for approximately 1 hour and is a work of love by Ravi Shankar and George Harrison)

5 comments:

robin andrea said...

The Chagall quote really captures the efforts of the artist.

I'm glad you mentioned the Ravi Shankar - George Harrison album. I'm going to have to find that. I especially like Indian chants when I'm cooking.

Anonymous said...

I like that you drew something impromptu instead of what you thought you should. That's the path with a heart, as Don Juan might say, eh?
I noticed you were getting some good contours, and then I scrolled down and read that's what you were onto. Nice work. I used to have Nicolaides, best teaching book I've ever seen.

Loren said...

Klodt suggests that the constant barrage of images from advertising make it even more difficult to live up to Chagall's statement that "The dignity of the artist lies in his duty of keeping awake the sense of wonder in the world."

Nice sense of synchronicity.

Anonymous said...

I love your drawings. They remind me that I love cats and will have one again one of these days. tk

The Dream said...

Excellent contour drawings of your kitty!

Oh yeah, pay no attention to the "inner critic" when it tries to tell you anything negative - especially about your artwork. You ROCK!