a deepening

This suite of drawings were made in 2014 and 2015.  A figure drawing group met every Friday for two, 3-hour sessions, with the same model.  It was a period of intense exploration for me, and led to this approach, which I followed for about six months. The paper is Lennox 100, a printmaking paper, that is 30" x 22", which I toned using powdered pigments in an acrylic medium.  The lattice of brush strokes in the background betrays my hand, and inadvertently led to a grid that I enjoyed worked on. I had just taken a class in primitive clay sculpture where we seamed edges using a fork or similar implement.  That translated into a series of "suturing" marks in my figure work. I used mostly charcoal pencils, conté and a very limited palate of Sennelier oil pastels.  (Bo was done with oil sticks.) I present here a small selection from that time. Two Heads, was made in the summer of 2015, after this series.