Author: Claire Traum

Charcoal and Vine 18×24

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Small matter, but look how much better this looks with the (incidental) color removed. You can do this by moving the Saturation slider in Snapseed all the way to the left.

Terrific drawing, and what feels like a very individualized portrait of your friend. Great expression in that foreground paw as well, and how it goes from fairly high def to a brief flourish of schematic lines in just a heartbeat.

Something you wrote to me about in an email is also in full evidence here–great disegno–the dog is a creature of the couch and of the rectangle at the same time. That dark emphasis on the tail is also doing major work supporting the whole design.

 

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Jack’s comments on the one and below parallel my own and are very well expressed. Likewise Adam’s remarks. This is quite an extraordinary drawing, what I might call a “drawer’s drawing” (like when we speak about an “actor’s actor”). It’s so much about the inside game of drawing, about mark-making, and planes, and a meditation on seeing. And at the same time a very telling and convincing portrait of an individual. And so solid and self-assured.

When I teach portrait drawing  I make a big point about the importance of attire, and this is a textbook example. Love the way the sweep of that scarf (?) frames the portrait. Then something about that far arm being just an outline.

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As enthusiastic as I am about the one above it (and  by the way, not so terribly much about the 2 first ones), this one is next level. I don’t take it to be unfinished at all. Jack says it best: “It’s almost like you can see the model thinking and feeling in real time, not yet having reached any conclusions. This visual uncertainty seems like a fitting parallel to the uncertainty of covid times.”

It reminds me of an artist that I think you would like, R.B Kitaj.

Find out more about him—

And take very good care of these last two drawings of yours. There’s something very special at work in them.

Charcoal on Paper, 9″ x 12″

Charcoal on Paper, 9″ x 12″

Charcoal on Newsprint, 18″ x 24″

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Charcoal on Paper, 9″ x 12″

Graphite on Paper, 9″ x 12″

Considering Diebenkorn is one of your inspirations (and a good one), think more about composition. Love the way the dog is in kind of a rectilinear silhouette. Bringing the sides closer emphasizes this (a rectangle within a rectangle) and strengthens the negative spaces. Note also the line I’ve added at “A.” It might not be true but for the sake of composition we have to take matters into our own hands–I did it to echo the verticals of the couch cushions and the dog’s lower spine, his brow, and collar. It also helps to arrest the rapid retreat of the diagonals (perspective).