Below is the 24 x 36″ large study I did for Harmony in Green, an early 20th-century auto garage in Edenton.  It will hang my solo show there on Dec 4.

In the Renaissance, most preparatory drawings for paintings were done in chalk.  This is a great way to indicate quickly where things go in the composition  Such drawings look like this one, which took about twenty minutes to do.  Chalk is smudgy for shadows and holds an edge for sharp lines; hence, one can capture a lot of information with it.

Seated Figure. Sanguine chalk.

But to test out large blocks of light and shadow, one turns to ink.  Since we live  a century into the era of comics and posters, it’s nothing for us to look at a poster and register an image.  Most poster- or comic-style drawing, though, is a very efficient shorthand, which purposely omits reference to the third dimension.  If you were busy perceiving depth in a billboard, you couldn’t read that billboard while driving.  In short, what we spend in depth perception, we gain in information.  Non-realistic pictures are worth a thousand words, as marketers the world over agree.

Realism, though, is priceless.  Witness this gem from Luca Cambiaso (fl. 1550’s):

Luca Cambiso. Figure studies. Ink

Yes, this is realism, albeit at its most stripped-down. No one doesn’t like these Renaissance robots.  Just the act of breaking these abstract figures up into front (lit) planes and side (shadow) planes gives them life.  This is simplicity: a little doing a lot can make for a monumental effect. If you remember Genesis 1–or any other creation myth, for that matter–you have already noticed that life will not go where there is no form.

So here’s the same treatment applied to a 24 x 36″ study of the building I’ve been working on.  A little doing a lot over two square yards.  The ink is walnut ink made from the bounty of North Carolina, and the pens used in the drawing are reed pens, just as Cambiaso used.

Bunch’s Garage: large study. Walnut ink. 24 x 36″