I've been winding down my drawing and painting preparing to retire, so to speak. For sometime now I've not exhibited, nor farmed my work out to galleries. With change in the air, and so many embracing art as a leisurely pastime, the economics of art have grown worse, rather than better.
The focus in the arts these days, at least here in Canada, has gone away from nature and landscape to a hodge podge of this and that, with indigenous art, and indigenous artists, receiving most of the attention. Canada's demographics are changing, and the new Canadians have yet to embrace Canada's historic art culture. The Group of Seven still gets a lot of attention, but the notoriety of lesser Canadian landscape/nature artists is being set aside.
In the course of winding down one spends time sorting through old correspondence, working drawings, and sketches trying to decide what to keep and what to trash. If in your career as an artist one has not garnered, or attracted the attention of critics and museums, then your art is not destined to survive much longer than a few moments following your passing. The thought therefore is to make the job of disposing of your belongings as easy as possible for those you leave behind. It's very difficult, however, to decide what to keep and what to let go. The finality of your actions at times can be overwhelming. After all, years of sacrifice and personal suffering is stored in your sketches and drawings. Each one holds a memory.
The other day while sorting through boxes of this and that I came across three manilla folders, each holding sketches and tracings used in the making of final drawings and paintings. I had forgotten that they existed, and as I sorted through the material I found myself amazed that I had actually created this work, some of which was quite good. Before letting it go I decided that I'd scan what I could and and share these images as, who knows, perhaps someone out there might enjoy my efforts from long ago, as well as help the odd person with their own artistic pursuit.......
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| Chickadee - Final Pencil Study - 1991 |
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Chickadee - Tracing for working study - 1991
Working with a "road kill" creating various rough studies a tracing is taken for transfer. |
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| Chickadee - Working Pencil Study |
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| Chickadee in Flight - Final Pencil Study - 1992 |
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| Chickadee Foraging on Mullein - Pencil Study - 1992 |
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Chickadee Studies - Pencil
In order to arrive at a finished state ready for transfer and painting the tracing paper is used over and over again salvaging bits deemed correct.
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| Chickadee - Tracing and working impression |
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| Chickadee in Flight - Pencil Studies |
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| Chickadee - Pencil Studies |
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| Belted Kingfisher - Pencil Studies |
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