This morning I dared to dig through a pile of drawings in the studio. This is not a stack arranged in any particular order. Some drawings are recent, some are from almost back to my bear "Big Bang" days. Some were remembered, others were not. Surprises were frequent. Pastels and colored-pencil drawings made up the majority of the work, but now and then an old pen-and-ink piece would surface.
Most of my college drawings were pen-and-ink. This process forces a person to come to terms with many personality traits - are you timid? confident? that odd mix of both? You will find out much about yourself if you work in this method. I started drawing with graphite pencils and the wish that erasers magically grew from the eraser holder. Yes, I've erased lines into holes. Yes, I've worn away many an eraser to sad end. This cannot happen when you work in pen-and-ink.
It was late October of 1997 when I drew the bear that started it all.... The first few bears were pencilled bruins, but after a while I braved the world of the permanent line.
"Roberta," here, is one result. Done March 7th, 1999, on water-color paper, her full title, oddly enough written in pen, is "Roberta - Lost Hope." I have no idea why. The actual paper is vertical, with an almost complete moon behind her and lots of white below her head. Cross-hatching is an easy way to create value, and as long as the hand was able the Sharper Marker was willing. Yes, the moon was pencilled in and that evidence still remains. But Roberta, herself, appears to be drawn "free-hand." One good thing about working with cross-hatching is the ability to make LOTS of small marks, thus allowing the artist to stop, consider, and go on. You need not fear the Big Gesture That Cannot Be Disguised. Just mark mark mark mark until your image builds to your idea of completeness. You can do this! And soon you will have your own pile of pen-and-ink drawings.
Thanks, Roberta, for coming out of hiding - hope or no hope.
As long as we have paper and ink-filled pens we can have a bit of hope.
To draw or not to draw? Not a question.
Fare-thee-well,
Sue
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