I have finished a drawing:
"And then we devoured our young"
graphite on Arches hot press paper
16 x 48 inches
Some details (my point-and-shoot camera...not the best photos):
And, by "finished", I mean that I am done with it for now. I am going to turn it against the wall in the studio for a few weeks so I can look at it at another time with a fresh eye. Occasionally, I get bogged down in the minute details and overall value relationships - to the point that my eyes cross* - and it becomes too difficult for me to objectively look at the drawing in progress. I have fixed all of the issues raised by my critique group, and even a few more that I found, so it is time to stop.
*My eyes may be crossing because I need glasses...I have to look into that (pun intended).
Of course there is the little matter of the next piece now on my easel - part one of a four-panel drawing that I just had to start as soon as possible...pooh to the one that may or may not be done, it is time for me to move onward.
I am still smitten with Francisco Goya; specifically the painting Saturn Devouring His Son which has been in the back of my mind while working on the above drawing:
And then there is the slightly more polished, yet no less disturbing, Peter Paul Rubens version of the same subject:
Oh my, those were two magnificent painters...fluid, raw, painterly...swoon. I think this subject is both at their best: paintings that are based in mythology, yet suggestive of a greater truth, reflecting the dark corners of the psyche of humankind.