Ireland work

No good reason to not post ... here are a few works from my time in Ireland (made with the gift of 5 gorgeous National Geographics from my friend Emma Stewart-Liberty in Ballyvaughan) in no particular order:

I've been trying to keep it really simple. In life, in work, with people.

Gods might be angry

I'm not clever enough to be clever about titles ... 

Happy Birthday Wayne

This was just way too easy. 

My friend Wayne has asked for it and, well, anything he wants ...

Rocky terrain

I feel like posting a few more images because I'll soon be away for 4 weeks in Ireland, off the grid. Yay for that.

I've worked this image to death, sort of mindlessly, while I was at the laundry. Forgot what I meant ...

Animal, vegetable, mineral

I'm pretty sure I've used this title before, but it seems to be working for me.

Clouds and angels

I've been staring a lot at the sky over the Chesapeake Bay this summer.

Flippers and relics

Something about the edge of light down the right side of the page makes me happy. Then that little sliver of light on the other side echoes back. Darned if I know what's going on in between.

Fishing in a blizzard

It's my turn to get dinner ...

What's up Doc?

I was fascinated with the bright white lights here, now way overpowered by the bunny ears and the carrot ... I wonder sometimes how I can be SO literal.

Goal?

I've been trying forever to lighten up, draw free, stop overworking the work. There's a story here ...

What might be found in an old National Geographic

These look familiar, like an ancient Marlboro ad ...

How did I get here?

As I've said before, the drawing reflects the state of mind. Head for the storm cellar.

Flying fish?

Hmmmmmmmmmm

Rotate 90 degrees

This was just plain fun to make. I turned the river on it's end; there's a boat hidden behind the orange bud. But, perhaps I shouldn't give it all away ...

Narrative

Only half the story ever comes to me ...

Deconstructing the canyon

Elevenses

Pulling weeds in the front yard

An ant or two crawling through. 

Everything

I think the work often reflects the state of my mind, in this case, my monkey mind. Sometimes I must glue down every piece I pick up. 

Meh

Under the big top

Too much to do

I've been thinking about a book I read ... about Berlin at the end of the war ... in very small pieces.

Ghost

I've been back home. Always a challenge.

This makes me feel like lying down

Where are my sunglasses?

I once spent a summer in southern Italy at a graphic design workshop. Paul Rand (you may remember his IBM logo, below) was teaching and said to us more than once that "yellow needs white." Somehow I forgot that here ... he's right.

Again, George Tussing's river bank

No idea

But I love the clothesline and the bee.

Getting a little figurative

I don't know how this happened. It reminds me of some of my undergrad paintings (late '90s). I'll attach one or two. The scale is hugely different. This ink drawing is 8 inches x 8 inches. The paintings are about 7 or 8 feet x 5 feet. It's always about the negative spaces for me.

Boo

What I'm thinking about when I'm not thinking

When would I ever use pink for anything?

Just here.

A la George Tussing

Hal gave me a painting for our anniversary a few years ago, a beautiful landscape of black trees on a riverbank, by our friend and teacher George Tussing. I sat with it for a time, idly sketching. As usual, mine is a drawing of its negative spaces. 

It's cold, it's dark

A note about the collage and the ink drawings, if you haven't been with me from the start: They are all included in dedicated 8" x8" sketchbooks. My sources are mostly old National Geographic, some Red Bulletin and Sierra magazines. The ink drawings are made with a simple black ball point pen (I favor Papermate, 10 for about $3.

Zen spirals

Most of my ink drawings are about just drawing, not thinking.

I'm a little afraid of this color

My friend Emma gave me a block (rabbit skin glue?) and a silver stylus

And I wish I'd used it for this ... it's just ink on paper (a Papermate pen). 

Line

Here I discovered how to draw with paper lines. I'll find many uses for this.

In the waiting room

Float

In meditation

Whale thoughts float into the clear sky, and then float out again, leaving no trace.

Contrast

Contrasting the natural and the man-made always tells a story ...