Recently I posted about our family of New York Studio School influences, and Tina Kraft. I found a few more drawings that show aspects of a process that changed the way I draw.
These portrait sketches by Tina Kraft demonstrate a technique of using marks to activate the white paper. The marks are both in and around the head, describing the figure as well as the space around it, even the process of drawing itself. By jumping from mark to mark we learn the relationship of one point to another: the eyebrow to the mouth, the mouth to the shoulder. Our eyes are invited to follow the artist as she touches the back of the head, then touches the wall, then comes back to the head. By following her pathway of observations we learn about the space and the surface. Some marks are points to locate on objects, some are imaginary measurements that float like spider silk between elements, relating the subject to the act of drawing as observation (verb) to the physical drawing itself (noun). For all the space and form and curious searching that they describe, they also remind us that they are marks on flat paper.
THIS WEEKEND! Printmaker’s Show Reception: Saturday March 23, 5:00-7:00 Show Open: Saturday, March 23, 11:00-7:00 Saturday, March 24, 11:00-5:00 Seattle Artist League 10219 Aurora Ave N, Seattle, WA 98133 Come by this weekend to see monotypes, drypoints, woodcuts, linocuts, and more, as students and teachers show their stuff at the first annual Seattle Artist League …
I’m currently reading the The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells. I wouldn’t wish the book or the subject on anyone, were it not imperative. In Seattle, the temperature typically varies from 37°F to 79°F, and right now we’re setting unpresidented records for heat, day after day, so it’s seeming especially imperative today. “In Seattle, where …
According to the National Gallery UK: The woman’s large white headdress, its calligraphic shape made up of stiff, angular folds, is striking against the dark background. Shading around the folds reinforces the sense of their depth, and the artist seems to want us to think that a fly, deceived by his illusion, has attempted to …
The Representation of Fireworks in Early Modern Europe “Fireworks are intrinsically fleeting, transitory, fugitive. Their power lies in the brutality of their transience: dying the instant of their birth, consumed in the act of consummation. There is something ironic, even poignant, then, in the attempt to render permanent through the medium of art a phenomenon …
Tina Kraft: drawing the head and the wall
Recently I posted about our family of New York Studio School influences, and Tina Kraft. I found a few more drawings that show aspects of a process that changed the way I draw.
These portrait sketches by Tina Kraft demonstrate a technique of using marks to activate the white paper. The marks are both in and around the head, describing the figure as well as the space around it, even the process of drawing itself. By jumping from mark to mark we learn the relationship of one point to another: the eyebrow to the mouth, the mouth to the shoulder. Our eyes are invited to follow the artist as she touches the back of the head, then touches the wall, then comes back to the head. By following her pathway of observations we learn about the space and the surface. Some marks are points to locate on objects, some are imaginary measurements that float like spider silk between elements, relating the subject to the act of drawing as observation (verb) to the physical drawing itself (noun). For all the space and form and curious searching that they describe, they also remind us that they are marks on flat paper.
Related Posts
League Printmaker’s Show
THIS WEEKEND! Printmaker’s Show Reception: Saturday March 23, 5:00-7:00 Show Open: Saturday, March 23, 11:00-7:00 Saturday, March 24, 11:00-5:00 Seattle Artist League 10219 Aurora Ave N, Seattle, WA 98133 Come by this weekend to see monotypes, drypoints, woodcuts, linocuts, and more, as students and teachers show their stuff at the first annual Seattle Artist League …
16 Ways to Reduce the Carbon Footprint in Your Art Studio
I’m currently reading the The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells. I wouldn’t wish the book or the subject on anyone, were it not imperative. In Seattle, the temperature typically varies from 37°F to 79°F, and right now we’re setting unpresidented records for heat, day after day, so it’s seeming especially imperative today. “In Seattle, where …
The Hofer Woman and the Fly
According to the National Gallery UK: The woman’s large white headdress, its calligraphic shape made up of stiff, angular folds, is striking against the dark background. Shading around the folds reinforces the sense of their depth, and the artist seems to want us to think that a fly, deceived by his illusion, has attempted to …
Happy New Year!
The Representation of Fireworks in Early Modern Europe “Fireworks are intrinsically fleeting, transitory, fugitive. Their power lies in the brutality of their transience: dying the instant of their birth, consumed in the act of consummation. There is something ironic, even poignant, then, in the attempt to render permanent through the medium of art a phenomenon …