Element of Surprise

I have been weaving, finally, after being asked to bring in more smaller scarves to the museum shop. Twice. I know, very bad priorities. My mind has been on a) the stash room, b) the severe cold, and c) drawing.

Everybody who took Ronette's drawing class last year is asked to select one piece for an exhibition in August. At the same time, we've all been experimenting with different media, styles and paper preparation. My favorite has been to prepare a small area of the paper with gesso and drawing with willow charcoal, but I am trying all sorts.

Because all work needs to be matted and framed, I've been thinking about cropping at the preparation stage, and I'm amazed how what I learned from photo-cropping has helped. I give myself a size and a shape and fit an attractive area of a body in it, kind of like a reverse cropping. It's also my way of cheating, a little, because I still can't get contours/proportions right, and I have so seldom managed to fit an entire body on paper. We also have art teachers, graphic designers, and Who-Knows-What-Elses whose works intimidate me enough to make me physically sick, so this is my way of showing what I can do.

I never know what the final drawing is going to look like until I peel off the newsprint and the tapes, which is so different from my weaving. It's all exciting!