Drawing #1: Mullein is completed

 

Mullein (Final), 32"x32", mixed media on paper, 2023

A milestone completed and the adventure continues. 

I want to further set the stage for this series. In my proposal to the New York State Council on the Arts I indicated I would create a series of 6 drawings celebrating/visualizing the connection of all life. I would find direct inspiration with visits to a park in New York City. I will exhibit the drawings at that park and present a short talk about the work. There are many amazing parks in NYC, but my first choice was Narrows Botanical Gardens in my neighborhood of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Thankfully my friends at Narrows were on board. I have been a volunteer at NBG for over three years.

Each drawing is imagery documenting a micro-ecosystem at the park. Mullein above was inspired by the first day I got to the park after I learned that my proposal had been accepted. This mullein is right by the gate where I enter the Vegetable/Flower Garden. It flagged my down and said...Look at me. I sure did. I have loved mulleins for a lifetime. They are common in Virginia,

The dried flowers are inula. I am sure I appreciated them when they were blooming but what captured my attention that day was the beautiful form and gesture this plant assumes in "death". This is the end of a lifetime, but such beauty and grace.

To complete this drawing there were numerous preliminary drawings. None exactly replicated but set me off on my journey to let the drawing evolve. You will see my initial concepts are very crude and evolved slowly.


Preliminary sketch for first drawing....as you can see not even close to where I ended up.     













I settled on the geometry (6 circles intersecting) and started building out the image on the final 32" square piece of paper. Off to the races.


 


An eraser is my friend.   

Days later.

I am perfecting my system for photographing these images. They are significantly larger than my most recent work and my current system of shooting images is less than perfect.


 Stay tuned and see what happens next.

@kristinharrisdesign

www.KristinHarrisDesign.com

 

 

 

 

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