Project Statement


train: wheels traveling on parallel tracks enabled by intersecting linear elements

Create 10 drawings exhibiting a unified voice by exploring the Golden Ratio as found within a locomotive drivetrain. The graphite on paper works will be executed in the coming months based on photographs of a decapod steam engine taken by the artist in 2009 at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Salisbury.

The compositions will use rotation within the confines of strict frontal views, and employ only shadow and detailed material rendering to develop a sense of depth. The conversation between subject and composition will draw on the “idea” of train and the inverse notion of what might be seen if the train moved around the wheel.

All 10 pieces will be the same size, each containing some part of a wheel in order to ground the viewer within the abstraction, much the same as the role the wheels play as they ride the rails.

Progress Bar

Progress Bar
Progress Bar: Five drawings completed

Monday, January 2, 2012

Getting Started

First time blogging...

First time for everything, so here goes  :-)

My thought is to use this space to track progress as I work on the 10 drawings that make up this project, and share the experience with whoever may wander along and look in the "window." Hopefully it'll be a bit more interesting than watching paint dry. Fingers crossed.

It may help to see what one of these drawings looks like. Here's the prototype work that sparked the project:


This drawing is executed in graphite on Arches watercolour paper. It's roughly 21" X 7.5" and took approximately 230 hours to complete. For the Decapod Project, I'll be doing pieces that are around 10" X 16". I'm hoping that the speed of completing each is a tad faster. I've already begun the first drawing and have started the rendering... it feels like it's going faster, so I'll take that and not ask too many questions here at the start.

My intention is to post updates weekly. The project is about the art and I'd like to avoid having the blog take over center stage.

I'll be including minor ramblings on technique and what my thoughts are about the drawings as I go. Everyone works differently - there's really many roads to the same place here, so I'll play it by ear and see where this takes me.

If you've actually just read this - Thanks for stopping by!! Comments and questions are welcome and oh yes - Happy New Year!!
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)