Update time!

Last week April Bachtel pointed out how my work tends to have a certain kind of quality of light, and wondered if it was due in part to the material used. This week I sketched out a drawing in ink and then started working on it at a much larger scale (2 x 3 feet) in charcoal. The light feels totally different, and while the ink sketch is clearly less defined in a lot of ways, it was fun to see the difference between the two as far as material is concerned.

I'm also drawing water for what I think is maybe the first time ever??? The idea of drawing water has always been a really daunting idea in my mind. It has a really rich history. Vija Celmins is the artist that always comes to mind when I think about drawings of water, and while my depictions couldn't be further than her photo realistic work, I'm happy with the pseudo-psychedelic rendering of water I've begun.

As always, I'm fighting the constant battle of wondering how much information is too much information to lay out in a drawing. There is a point I usually hit very early on in making work where my ego takes over and I think to myself "damn, that's pretty good, I should stop there." I"m pretty much always wrong. But in these moments I find that I need to stop working, before I push through and make the drawing way busier than it needs to be. I hit that point on this drawing, and decided that before I work on the upper portion of the drawing, I'll take a breather.

So here is both the sketch for the drawing, and the drawing as a work in progress, as well as one of Vija Celmins' drawings.

Sending out virtual hugs to everyone in lieu of physical affection,

Tom O'Brien

Vija Celmins, Big Sea II, graphite (1969)