Wednesday, December 30, 2009

dailydrawing 12-30-09

Also posted late, a quick drawing and this one was just as quickly abandoned, but i know i will revisit this. These are shapes, lines  and figures that appear rather often in my work. When i started to think about these things i make, i meandered into the concept of what it would look like if Louise Bourgeois and Hans Bellmer collaborated on a drawing. i think it would look a little like this (though, by no means does my work pay adequate homage to either one of them).



Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Daily Drawing 12-29-09

Posted a bit late, but i've been in some sort of sulphurous fog.
12-29-09.... kind of abandoned, not sure if i will finish it




Sunday, December 27, 2009

First Daily Drawing

i've decided to commit myself to one drawing every single day. i am sure that sometimes it may end up being a small rough sketch, but i am going to try to do my best.
First of many....

Daily Drawing 12-27-09


Sunday, December 20, 2009

The War Machine

This is a preliminary (and poor quality) copy shot of a piece i did for my final project for drawing class.
It took many many hours. Silverpoint is a very challenging medium, but i am pleased with the results. i can't wait for the silver to oxidize and darken. This photo is slightly deceptive, as the value of the silver is pretty light right now, probably akin to the result of a 2H or 4H graphite pencil, but it should darken up with time and i estimate will look probably like it does in this photo.

The assignment was to first make a master copy. i chose Leonardo da Vinci's "Antique Warrior". We were required to make the copy in the same size and medium as the original. For the second part, we were to create an original drawing in the same size and medium, utilizing the master artist's style.
i wanted to create a juxtaposition and a reflection between the two soldiers and create an implicit dialogue about the history of warfare, and place the emphasis on the individual man participating.



"The War Machine"
diptych
approx. 16" x 11" total
silverpoint on prepared paper

copyright Jennifer A. Krause 2009

A note on silverpoint: essentially this technique predates the pencil. It was used in da Vinci's time quite a bit. One uses a fine silver (about .999) wire, (i used a 12 gauge wire) that is cut into a short length and filed and sanded to a point, but rounded like a pencil tip. This is also a polished point in order to prevent actually scratching. The tip should be smooth.
This is placed in a lead holder (not unlike a mechanical pencil) and the point is used to draw. The surface must be prepared with some sort of ground or gesso that will allow the silver to deposit onto its surface. In da Vinci's time, i believe they used a mixture with ground bones. i used Golden brand silverpoint ground medium on a very fine 300lb hot press watercolor paper that was mounted to board for stiffness.