in the studio : july 2010

The Egyptian waters series is one of the few situations where I am seated when I draw. They require an immaculately clean space to work in. The pens require enough ink to complete the drawing without any waste. It is drawing of an exacting posture and state of mind.

It takes a considerable amount of time to prepare the area where I will draw. The table is emptied of everything, every tool and scrap of paper. The table is wiped down three times and the tools are cleaned. Then the paper is laid and the simple grid is drawn in pencil.

I put on my tiny iPod with some minimal music to block out the sounds of the here and now. I light a small candle. I bring objects from the seaside to the table and I select ones that seem right for these drawings I hold them and turn them in my hands. I place them near the candle a beacon.  All the while I am traveling to memories of the ocean tasting the salt on my lips and feeling the wind in my hair — the stinging sand on my cheeks and the salty mist on my sunglasses. There is foam at my feet. I can hear the gentle lapping of the water and the crashing of waves. I can see the water. I am [t]here.

When I no longer feel the surroundings of my studio is when I can fill my pen with ink. As I squeeze it into the pen it is the roaring ocean, the undulating waves, the sun shimmering on the surface.

Now I am neither here nor there. I cannot say I think of the ocean as I draw. I have no memories of it. I just begin to draw. Mark by mark, line by line, until the grid is full.

1241 - july 2010

1241 - july 2010

1241 - july 2010

1241 - july 2010