Monday, July 5, 2010

Barrow, Alaska

Charcoal on Paper
11 x 15

Ever since I returned from Alaska I have been playing around with charcoal, something I have never really used before. Thanks to friend Holly Swift for her help and to artist Kathy Hodge, kathyhodge.com, who I know only via internet and who generously gave me advice; there's more to it than I thought! Trying to find paper that feels right to me is my first task. I am wondering if this paper is too grainy....
I came across a concept that really struck me. In the Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard talks about Intimacy in Immensity - the possibility that a work (painting, poem, music, etc.) can induce a person to have the experience of vastness that feels in proportion to his/her inner expansiveness. Every time I read that I get tingly!

2 comments:

Mary Logue said...

So moody. I feel like I'm there. Endless tundra. What a feeling.

Kathy Hodge said...

It doesn't look like you needed much advice, this is a very nice drawing! I love the foreground and the energy.