Charcoal Drawings

"Rubble #1" Charcoal drawing 22"X22" 2017 Framed $1,100.00

"Rubble #2" Charcoal on paper 22"X22" 2017 $1,100.00 framed

"Chain Study #1" graphite on paper 22"X22" 2016 $1,100.00 framed

"Chain Study #2" 2016 graphite on paper 22"X22" $1,100.00 framed

"Discipline" 2016 Charcoal on paper 32"X44" $2,400.00 framed

Chains offer a wide range of metaphors for the viewer. I chose the title "Discipline" for a couple of reasons. It refers to the artistic discipline required to draw realistically such a complex image. It also refers to my gym practice of weight lifting with which i start most mornings of the week. These chains, which comprise a beautiful element of the body building culture, intrigued me, and I knew that drawing them would be a worthy challenge. The gym, ironically sports the name of Discipline Fitness.

These 4 drawings were conceived as an idea to illustrate the organic and grounded values of life in a small rural community , such as Nakusp B.C. where I live. The group includes images of vegetable gardens, fresh gravity fed water, recycled building materials, and the "real wealth" of a rural winter, a big stack of firewood.

The "Preservation" Series.
The inspiration for this group of five works comes from my neighbor's land. Steve has made his fence posts interesting by adding stones and other found objects to the tops to keep the fence posts from rotting. I always enjoyed walking by this group of fence posts, and I chose to try and capture that pleasure by drawing them. I took photographs from a low vantage point to exaggerate the heaviness of the rock. My idea was to transform a humble, country act into images both mysterious and totemic by playing with scale. I used the creative license of composite drawing to "move" the fence posts to other areas of my neighborhood where they appear to exist but do not. Each seems to have a personality of it's own.

"Still" 2016, 32"X44" Charcoal on paper $2,400.00 framed.

One morning as I came to work in my studio, I discovered a small bird lying dead on the doorstep. It was an unfortunate victim of my large windows, but it's small frame showed no damage. It was still and perfect still. I wanted to use the image to create a drawing that would speak as a metaphor for melancholy and death. I place the bird in the context of being trapped by circumstances, and I adapted the background scene to winter to exaggerate the sense of stillness.