Summer Sketches
A reflective on drawing during the
grayest Summer of my life.
This has been a Summer of drawing for me.
I find that I go through phases in my art and that I am usually making long oscillations between reading and drawing. This cool San Francisco Summer has been drawing.
There have been a few finished pieces, though at this point I don’t know what that means for me. I have been going to regular figure drawing sessions. I have been drawing at parks and at overly-polished, ambitious artist events.
Mostly, I just sketch. In between jealousy and apathy and serenity.
It’s my first Summer here in San Francisco. I’m from San Diego, so I feel cheated out of the real thing. It is slightly miserable, or at least like a prolonged gray Spring, which is no way to live.
I have many works that contain that sort of esoteric style of poetry that I love but does not seem to land with anyone. I also have many pages of weird little doodles. In a way, I make both of these things because they are easy for me and feel satisfying to make, yet I still think the outcome is unique. Besides the constant self-doubting churn of figure drawing, I don’t know that I’ve challenged myself too much with drawing this Summer.
Some perhaps too-esoteric poem drawings exhibits:
Maybe saying that I haven’t challenged myself is the wrong way to think about it. I’ve been drawing what feels good to draw. And it has.
Weird doodle guys exhibits:
The Finished Works
What follows are what I consider to be the finished drawings that I made this Summer, partly just because they are on larger paper and not in a sketchbook.
The first one I made during a drink and draw at a local gallery. There is even a small beer stain off to the right.
As I was making it I was trying to come off as cool and casual even though I was excited because I thought that I had hit upon something good, which is embarrassing to me because I don’t necessarily think it is very good in the grand scheme. But oh well. I do not live in the grand scheme. I live in the making with my pencils and pens.
I feel embarrassed showing them like this here. There goes any plausible deniability that I am making more interesting, more finished, more ambitious works elsewhere.
These are done on 90 lb paper in oxblood ink with my Pilot Metropolitan.
“Menagerie” (Top) and “Robot Makeout Session” (Bottom):
Exploring digital + traditional
I have been making great use of my Adobe subscription (I have accidentally locked myself into a year-long contract so I intend to use it.)
I like combining my sketches with other sketches, or text, or digital elements.
For instance! Below is a border I drew a year ago that I combined with a figure drawing sketch I made a few weeks ago. Magic!!!!
The Brush Pen Works
Perhaps my family is right and I should incorporate more color into my drawings. I just love line so much, it feels complete to me as-is. In fact, color could take away from line in a sort of… battle of basic art components.
Where do I want my sketching to go next?
This recent bout of drawing (said as if disease) has been so intuitive I could hardly want for a plan. Perhaps I should study color. Though why would I study color if I love line so much?
I do want to at least create more finished pieces. Larger pieces. I want to finally use the large roll of drawing paper I bought a few months ago. It has been sitting next to my art desk staring at me for too long.
Stay tuned.