Art, Poetry and Life

This drawing is part of a series of six, all the same size, and all very different in subject matter. Others are named: The Medusa’s Dance, The Mask Only Works for a Little While, In Awe of the Singer, The Other Side of the Looking Glass and Theatre in the Clouds.

The complete process of this drawing took a considerable amount of time. It is done with charcoal on a 22 inch x 30 inch sheet of Arches Cold Press watercolor paper. Cold Press watercolor sheets have a slight texture. Hot Press is very smooth and then there is Rough which has much more texture than the Cold Press.

I would say that the Centaur took the longest time to complete, probably six months. Both The Centaur and The Mask gave me goose bumps many times while working on them. The Mask had to be hidden in a closet for a while because it was creeping me out too much. Six months later, I was able to finish it. Below is a detail of the bottom half of The Centaur.




I am going to be secretive here and not say exactly how this drawing was done or how the charcoal was applied because I have seen very few of these types of work. I will just say that I let my imagination run away and started seeing things in the charcoal. Once I start seeing an image, I begin drawing lightly around it or filling in negative space with a charcoal pencil. I don’t define the image completely at first. I have to see what else I imagine in the scene. Each time I go back into the drawing, I get a bit darker. I also will lift out charcoal that is too dark. By that I don’t mean erase. There is a special eraser called a Kneaded eraser that you can squeeze or roll, kind of like ‘Silly Putty’ back about 40 yrs ago. All you need to do is press into the charcoal and lift off.

Below is me standing next to The Other Side of the Looking Glass which was in an exhibition at Grady Gammage, Arizona State University, during the showing of The Phantom of the Opera. I was younger then.

The results of this process are very enjoyable to me, however, to continue, I would have to have a small press which can be very expensive. The one at the school was about $4000. There are smaller, table top presses and they run about $500. I could also continue this by rubbing w/ a special tool but the results are not exactly what I want. I can't press hard enough it seems.

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(if, for any reason, you object to nudity, please do not look)

This is a detail of the finished painting that is a 30 inches x 36 inches oil on canvas, framed in faux black snakeskin. It started out as a graphite drawing on canvas then I started filling in base colors. Base colors are what I try to make sure show through the rest of the layers of paint. Basically, I paint in layers which is why oil paintings take a considerable amount of time to finish because you should wait till it is somewhat dry (or tacky to the touch) before adding another layer. There are driers some painters use and sometimes I use them and sometimes not.

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This painting is very special to me in many ways. It was done with oil stick...sort of like a large crayon of oil paint. They do not have the same toxicity as tube paint does. That is a good thing because when I use them, I first have to scrape off the hard shell each time and I get it all over my hands and under my fingernails. The oil stick comes in a multitude of colors plus there is a clear stick which is great for blending colors. You can also use a bit of turp or paint thinner to move the paint around once it's on the board.

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I thought I'd post some of my favorite quotes collected over the years. They pretty much stand for who I am.

+ “What I am seeking is not the real and not the unreal but rather the unconscious, the mystery of the instinctive in the human race.” – Modigliani

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