installation

The process I've been documenting in this blog is complete. The drawing was expertly installed today by Ty Art (Chris, David, Christopher and Kyle), and there's nothing left to do. Here are some photos of the final day.

before installation

Here is the finished drawing, the left panel, and a detail of the left panel in the studio.

drawing completed

I finished the drawing this morning.

shadow study

This is a study for the work I'll begin tomorrow - painting/drawing the shadows on the banner. Note that the placement of the radiating lines in the actual commission has been changed; I decided I wanted them radiating out from a point behind the word "truth."

masking tape removed

Okay, I'm getting closer. Yesterday I sprayed varnish on the drawing, and tonight I finished taking off the masking tape that covered the banner. Next I have to paint the shadows in the banner, which is a much different mental process than creating the ground. Working on the ground is a more spontaneous, intuitive act in which the image I'm trying to achieve has to comport in some way with the image I have in my head. Painting the shadows is more about looking carefully and painting what I see. Installation is scheduled for a week from tomorrow. Lots left to do.

grounds complete

Today I finished snapping the lines and working the ground. After that I took the plastic mask off and filled in the cut-out letters with charcoal. As you can see above, the charcoal smudged outside the contour of the letters. When I take the masking tape off, the letters should be crisp and precise. Next step is to spray the painting with varnish. Then I'll take off the masking tape and paint the shadows on the banner. Then I'll spray another coat of varnish on the painting. Then, I'll let it dry for a couple of days, roll the two canvasses onto tubes, and wait for Ty Art to pick them up next Friday.

progress

Here's a compilation image of where the drawing is now (twenty six feet compressed into four inches). I'm almost finished applying the charcoal snap lines, and almost finished with the grounds. After that, I'll fill in the letters, then I'll spray the letters and ground with a fixative/acrylic picture varnish, then I'll finally take off the masking tape and "paint" the shadows in the banner with charcoal and water.

a dirty business

I thought I'd give you an idea how much charcoal dust is generated when I make these drawings.

more charcoaling

Tonight I finished snapping lines along the top edge of the drawing, and added more charcoal powder to the background. The drawing looks like hell right now; and that's pretty much what it's supposed to look like at this stage. I have to gradually develop the values in the background, considering the composition across both panels, and the shadow pattern that's on the banner. What isn't visible now, but will make an enormous difference in balance and contrast, is the pristine white banner under all that masking tape. I'll leave the tape over the part of the banner that has highlights until I'm done with everything else on the drawing.

turned the corner

It's too bad George Bush and his gang gave the expression, "turned the corner," such a bad rep, because it's an apt description for what happened in the studio today. If the infrequency of my posts hasn't clued you in, then let me tell you explicitly that this commission has been eating my lunch. Kind of.

There are lots of defensible reasons for it - the general, natural pressure one could expect with a public commission; the pressure from it being the biggest drawing I've ever done; the stress of using new materials; financial pressure, deadline pressure, installation pressure, etc. The effect of this pressure in the studio has been that the canvasses have taken on an almost contentious, anthropomorphic presence. This is the first time this has ever happened to me. Usually, I see the blank piece of paper as an aesthetically gorgeous site on which to leave evidence of a performance, or maybe more precisely, a place where I prosecute a graphic intention. Either way, there is definitely a performative aspect to the process that I enjoy - one more self-conscious, the other, aware but not self conscious. With this drawing though, the canvasses have taken on a life of their own, and I've been sub-consciously dreading confronting them, probably because they're so damned big. The piece of paper on which I normally work is large, but not so large that I can't contain it in my reach (except diagonally). These canvasses dwarf me, so I think I've been intimidated (even though I've also been enthralled).

Today, though, I turned the corner. I started snapping the lines radiating from behind the word "truth" in the banner. I've almost finished snapping three sides. I also worked on the ground, spraying the canvas in places with a fine mist of thinned mat medium to hold the charcoal dust. With these "aggressions," the canvas relented, and I now feel like I'm somewhat in control again. It's still going to be challenging, but the dynamics of my relationship to the canvas have changed in my favor...for now.