Look, See

Fifteen Watercolors

Fifteen Watercolors, September 2007, Watercolor and Pencil on Crane's 100% Fine Cotton 24 LB. Premium Weight Acid Free White Thesis Paper, 11 x 8.5 inches each (scanned; click each for large view)

Tethered and Untethered Stars

Douglas Witmer & Chris Ashley: Tethered and Untethered Stars, 2007. Ink, acrylic, and magic marker on found paper

Installed in Across the Borderline at Rike Art Center, University of Dayton, Ohio, January 11- February 10, 2007

Drawing

Left: Untitled 1-4, 2006, ballpoint pen on Canford Snow White Imperial, 20.5 x 15.5 in.

Right: doodle, 2006, ballpoint pen on 11 x 8.5 copy paper folded into quarters, approx. 4 x 2 in.

For Ann (Happy Birthday)

Untitled 1-4

Untitled 1-4, 2006, ballpoint pen on Canford Snow White Imperial, 20.5 x 15.5 in.

Wave

Untitled 1-18

Untitled1-18, November-December 2006, graphite on Strathmore 80lb. medium drawing paper, 8 x 6 inches each

Stars 1-20

Stars 1-20, October 2006, ink on paper, Size A5 (5.83 x 8.27 inches)

1-30 (Across the Borderline)

Douglas Witmer and I are working on drawings for our installation, Across the Borderline, at University of Dayton, OH, opening January 11. We are posting images to an AtB weblog, but Blogger, or something, is giving me trouble. See more there, but in the meantime, here are thirty recent drawings by me:

1-30, 2006, ink on unbound & unfolded notebook paper, 17.25 x 6 inches each

Mauai Sketchbook

Mauai Sketchbook (Honokawai), October 8-10, 2006, ink on paper, Size A5 (5.83 x 8.27 inches)

Mauai Sketchbook

Mauai Sketchbook (Honokawai), October 8-10, 2006, ink on paper, Size A5 (5.83 x 8.27 inches)

Mauai Sketchbook

Mauai Sketchbook (Honokawai), October 8-10, 2006, ink on paper, Size A5 (5.83 x 8.27 inches)

Mauai Sketchbook

Mauai Sketchbook (Honokawai), October 8-10, 2006, ink on paper, Size A5 (5.83 x 8.27 inches)

Mauai Sketchbook

Mauai Sketchbook (Honokawai), October 8-10, 2006, ink on paper, Size A5 (5.83 x 8.27 inches)

Mauai Sketchbook

Mauai Sketchbook (Honokawai), October 8-10, 2006, ink on paper, Size A5 (5.83 x 8.27 inches)

Mauai Sketchbook

Mauai Sketchbook (Honokawai), October 8-10, 2006, ink on paper, Size A5 (5.83 x 8.27 inches)

Mauai Sketchbook

Mauai Sketchbook (Honokawai), October 8-10, 2006, ink on paper, Size A5 (5.83 x 8.27 inches)

Mauai Sketchbook

Mauai Sketchbook (Honokawai), October 8-10, 2006, ink on paper, Size A5 (5.83 x 8.27 inches)

Mauai Sketchbook

Mauai Sketchbook (Honokawai), October 8-10, 2006, ink on paper, Size A5 (5.83 x 8.27 inches)

Mauai Sketchbook

Mauai Sketchbook (Honokawai), October 8-10, 2006, ink on paper, Size A5 (5.83 x 8.27 inches)

Mauai Sketchbook

Mauai Sketchbook (Honokawai), October 8-10, 2006, ink on paper, Size A5 (5.83 x 8.27 inches)

Mauai Sketchbook

Mauai Sketchbook (Honokawai), October 8-10, 2006, ink on paper, Size A5 (5.83 x 8.27 inches)

Mauai Sketchbook

Mauai Sketchbook (Honokawai), October 8-10, 2006, ink on paper, Size A5 (5.83 x 8.27 inches)

Limantour 1-5

Limantour 1-5, 2005, Pencil, watercolor & ink on Rives BFK paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

Sausal Creek 1-5

Sausal Creek 1-5, 2005, Pencil, watercolor & ink on Rives BFK paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

Occidental 1-5 (Version One)

Occidental 1-5 (Version One) , 2005, Pencil, watercolor & ink on Rives BFK paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

Occidental 1-5 (Version Two)

Occidental 1-5 (Version Two), 2005, Pencil, watercolor & ink on Rives BFK paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

Untitled (Reds) 1-5

Untitled (Reds) 1-5, 2005 (September), pencil, watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

Untitled (Blue, Green & Orange) 1-5

Untitled (Blue, Green & Orange) 1-5, 2005 (September), watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

Towards Crossmaglen 1-5

Towards Crossmaglen 1-5, 2005 (September), pencil, watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

Four for W.A.A.

Four for W.A.A., 2005 (September), Pencil, watercolor & ink on Rives BFP cream paper, 4 panels, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

Qinglü (Album Two, 1-10)

Qinglü (Album Two, 1-10), 2005 (September), Pencil, watercolor & ink on Rives BFP cream paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

Untitled 1-5

Untitled 1-5, 2005 (September), Pencil, watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

Chimney Rock 1-5

Chimney Rock 1-5, 2005 (August), Pencil, watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

July Set 5

July Set 5, 1-5, 2005, Pencil, watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

July Set 4

July Set 4, 1-5, 2005, Pencil, watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

July Set 1, 1-5

July Set 1, 1-5, 2005, Pencil, watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

July Set 2, 1-5

July Set 2, 1-5, 2005, Pencil, watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

July Set 3, 1-5

July Set 3, 1-5, 2005, Pencil, watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

July Trio

July Trio, 2005, Pencil, watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

One Over One 1-9

French Trail, Albums 5 & 6

French Trail Album 5, 1-5, 2005, Pencil, watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned), Private Collection

French Trail Album 6, 1-5, 2005, Pencil, watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned), Private Collection

Two more albums in the French Trail series. Each album has five drawings. Three albums were posted on 20050317, and another 20050325. In these two albums each drawing uses a different motif, contrasts between free and ruled lines, and free and ruled brushed watercolor, and all have the ruled black finishing line. Albums 5 and 6 are gifts, and will go into a folder made from the same paper on which all of these drawings are made- Rives BFK lightweight cream, a thin, sensitive rag printmaking paper that handles water media well, doesn't stand up to lots of erasure, has a beautiful cream color, and is not expensive. I've used this paper off and on since about 1978.

Recent Drawings

French Trail Album 4, 1-5, 2005, Pencil, watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

Qinglü (Blue & Green), 1-5, 2005, Pencil, watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

Untitled, 1-5, Pencil, 2005, watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

See recent French Trail drawings, Sets 1-3.

French Trail, Albums 1-3

French Trail Album 1, 1-5, 2005, Pencil, watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

French Trail Album 2, 1-5, 2005, Pencil, watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

French Trail Album 3, 1-5, 2005, Pencil, watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 8.75 x 6.75" each (scanned)

The French Trail is a narrow, steep trail in the Oakland Hills near where I live. We often walk a 3.5 mile loop with our dog that begins at the Skyline Gate Staging Area The FT is probably much less than one quarter of the distance in the total loop, branching off from a fire road in a meandering, tree-covered downhill descent, much of what looks like a Cezanne forest painting until one reaches a long stretch of creek that is lined with more recent generations of redwoods crowning the remaining cut or burnt out stumps of old growth redwood. At this time there are lots of flowers, but I'm lousy at flower names, so I can only name irises.

These are an attempt to get a direct image out that is light and that floats. I didn't want to work them too much. In each set there is contrasting use of lined and scribbled line. Lines are underneath washes, go over washes, or stop and start on either side of a wash. There is framing and unframing, deep and shallow spaces. Set 1 is the most place-specific. Set 2 is about openness. Set 3 is about looking up close.

All three sets came out of some thinking I've been carrying around for months about a small watercolor (below) I posted on 20040630 where I wrote, "I like the clear character of each stroke, the supporting straight line, the modesty of means and lack of presumption, the sense of air and breath, the pace of the eye through the five figures, and how the structure is not far from the grid I've been using so much for three years now but not overbearingly present. This is not a finished work, but I think there is an idea in here that I can use."

Untitled Blue & Green Album 1-4

Untitled Blue & Green Album 1-4, 2005, Watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 9 x 6.75", 22.7 x 17 cm

Untitled Blue & Green Album 1-5

Untitled Blue & Green Album 1-5, 2005, Watercolor & ink on paper, approx. 9 x 6.75", 22.7 x 17 cm

Album 3

Album 3, 2005, watercolor & ink on paper, 5 leaves, approx. 10 x 8.75" each

Album 2

Album 2, 2005, watercolor & pencil on paper, 5 leaves, approx. 10 x 8.75" each

Album 1

Album 1, 2005, watercolor & ink on paper, 5 leaves, approx. 10 x 8.75" each

Blue & Green 7-9

Blue & Green 7-9, 2004, pastel and water on paper, 12 x 9" each (scanned)
1-3 in this series posted 20041121
4-6 in this series posted 20041121

Blue & Green 4-6

Blue & Green 4-6, 2004, pastel and water on paper, 12 x 9" each (scanned)

1-3 in this series posted 20041121.

Blue & Green 1-3

Blue & Green 1-3, 2004, pastel and water on paper, 12 x 9" each (scanned)

Returning to the blue and green palette, working through some ideas from HTML drawings, getting ready for painting a small series of panels, thinking about how, in paint, I might handle overlay, tranparency, and the figure/object vs. the field.

Occidental (Blue & Green) 1-12

Untitled (Blue & Green) 1-6

Untitled (Blue & Green) 1-6, September 2004, watercolor & ink on Crane's acid free archival thesis paper, 11 x 8 1/2" (scanned)

Occidental Blue & Green (2's, 3's, 4's) 1-9

Occidental Blue & Green (2's, 3's, 4's) 1-9, September 2004, watercolor, pencil & ink on Crane's acid free archival thesis paper, 11 x 8 1/2" (scanned)

1,000 Li (Blue & Green) 1-9, Set II

1,000 Li (Blue & Green) 1-9, Set II, August 2004, watercolor, pencil & ink on Crane's acid free archival thesis paper, 11 x 8 1/2" (scanned)

The making of these drawings is the same as described for Set I.

1,000 Li (Blue & Green) 1, 2, 3

Untitled (Blue & Green) 1, 2, 3, August 2004, ink on Strathmore 80 lb drawing paper, 10 x 8" each (scanned)

1,000 Li (Blue & Green) 1-6

1,000 Li (Blue & Green) 1-6, Set I, August 2004, watercolor, pencil, & ink on Crane's acid free archival thesis paper, 11 x 8 1/2" (scanned)

I started these six drawings in Occidental as part of an original group of fifteen. They continue the use of the late Song blue and green colors, specifically from the painting "A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains (detail); the yellow is in response to the aged paper or silk supports of the paintings of this era. Each drawing began with a centered ruled vertical pencil line spanning one half to two thirds of the sheet, and each has several passes to build up small fields and gestures of liquid color, while allowing for drying between layers.

These drawings were a search for something. They were difficult to do. Size, color, a pencil line, and the idea of a series were givens, but otherwise I didn't know where these were going. At several points I reached dead ends, not knowing where to go next. After several layers of color and added pencil I suddenly decided to try laying a black structure over parts of the colored areas. These six drawings use the black lines as a kind of framing. The other nine drawings, which I'm treating as a separate set, aren't "framed" by the black, but instead have a quirkier drawing that enlivens the structure intimated by the colored areas. I'll post those tomorrow.

The use of blue and green in the Chinese paintings can almost border on kitsch: too rich, too beautiful, too much a device. These six drawings still retain the landscape feel, while turning almost into stained glass, reminding me of pieces I've seen from early 20th Century California (image, page).

Untitled drawings, Occidental, August 2004

These drawings are made using twigs and small branches picked up off the ground around the property of the house in Occidental where I stayed last week. Each is whittled to a flat edge or point with an Exacto blade and dipped in bottles of Higgins colored ink. These are mostly drawn using a straight edge (a piece of leftover oak flooring, about one quarter inch thick, one and a half inches wide, ten inches long), but there is also free-hand drawing here. The smaller paper is from a sprial bound Strathmore pad, the larger from a sprial bound Jack Richeson pad. I enjoy describing specifically what was used to make something. I'm still trying to find a way from the grid of the HTML drawings to drawings on paper. I'm not sure this is the way I want to go. Maybe I just need to get it out of my system. I made a number of drawings in black ink with sticks in 1979 that use the grid, a straight edge, building up an image. I wanted to try it again. And I'd like to go bigger and faster. I'm thinking of acrylic on gessoed paper. The top row of larger drawings are in response to the recent series, A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, in their use of yellow, blue, and green, but tempered by being on a ridge above the Pacific, next to some huge oaks, under alternating foggy and sunny skies, and down the road from a grove of old growth redwoods. The drawings in the bottom row are about being on the property; the use of brown and red in two of the drawings is in response to a small leafy tree already turning into fall colors. The middle drawing is more about finding a structure related to the grid HTML drawings. Click each for larger view.
Untitled 1-3, August 2004 (Occidental, Sonoma, California), ink on paper, 12 x 9" (scanned)
Untitled 4-6, August 2004 (Occidental, Sonoma, California), ink on paper, 10 x 8" (scanned)

Birds and Flags 1-9, June 2004

Nine drawings: pencil, colored pencil, watercolor, and ink on 100% cotton fiber acid free archival thesis paper, 11 X 8 1/2" each, scanned (see notes below; click each for a larger view)

Nothing conclusive here; an exercise in line, color, brushwork, gesture, movement with variations on a triangle motif. Did the top three on Saturday, June 5, the middle three on Sunday morning, and the bottom three Sunday afternoon. No do-overs. Usually to get nine drawings like this I'd easily do 20-25 drawings. This time I settled for what came out, awkwardness and all; I want to look at that, think about what makes something right or wrong.

Each drawing started with a simple freehand drawing in pencil over which are laid three roughly-ruled colored pencil lines. The watercolor is laid in with a small flat brush in short strokes, forming an area that surrounds the triangles but doesn't make a real background, trying to find an incomplete completeness. The final act is the free-hand ink outline that anchors but doesn't encompass the central painted field.

Each drawing has three colors, plus black and graphite. After doing the first three I re-used the same color combinations for the next two sets of three. I rotated the sequence of the color combinations in each row without a lot of thought.

This is smooth paper, easy to draw on, and comes in boxes of 100 sheets for around $12.00; I bought it at the UC Berkeley student store. The watercolor goes nicely on this paper, allowing long enough to move the paint a bit before it kind of sucks up the water, which helps retain the look of the brush strokes.

There are a lot of birds flying across and in and out of our backyard. A branch hanging over our fence holds a nest in which we can watch parent robins land with big juicy worms to feed two shaky, wide-open, triangle-shaped baby mouths. Neighbors down the street have Tibetan prayer flags and another string of peace flags hanging above their long porch. Leaves are fluttering from branches, loads of apples and plums are growing and hanging. Telephone wires are diagrams across the sky, drawings from pole to pole zigzagging down the street. Large and small planes fly over to and from Oakland Airport.

These drawings were originally going to have a different format; behind each drawing would be another piece of paper turned horizontally, centered and aligned with the top sheet at the bottom edge. For an idea of what I mean see the recent HTML drawings "Three Edges." Once I did the drawings though I realized as I made them that I'd completely ignored this idea, and so each drawing just didn't sit well. I'm doing another set with that format fully integral to the entire process.