Flowering of the Unbounded 52

Preliminary ink drawing for woodcut. Apple tree.

Flowering of the Unbounded 49

Only three paintings have survived over-painting in 2011. This one - 10" x 10"- takes its place in the series 'Flowering of the Unbounded'.
The phrase comes from 12C Zen Thinker Dogen whose writings have been inspiring me through the last year. Yayoi Kusama - soon to have a major retrospective at Tate Modern - writes: "The machinery of the sky that confounds us on earth with endless transformations of clouds... does not compare to the extraordinary tenacity of human beings, the way of human life, the presentiment of approaching death, the existence of love, the brilliant corruscations of light and the dark scars of our lives, to say nothing of... the overwhelming mysteries of space, time, distance. What is it that towers in the background, looming over all this? I wanted to express my yearning for that unknown something..."

Fen Winter

Our corner of the Fens on a late winter's afternoon. Light fading over the swans still calling on the fields.
Using a dry brush and relief printing ink.

Scribbly

Our week 2 holiday house, Le Bourg, St Projet. Drawn with a superb scribbly ballpoint, whose kind donor was subsequently - accidentally - locked in the cellar, mid foreground. Apologies again.

Another Point of View

A quiet, hot morning in the Tarn Gorges last week. Vultures sliding past on the thermals. Drawn between coffee and lunch in Japanese album Moleskine.

A Point of View

From the Saut de la Mounine viewpoint over the Lot. Favourite cycle routes and La Paregude visible. Beneath our feet clear air and sand martins.

Najac

Najac Castle. Rain and sun alternating. Drawn from restaurant terrace towards the end of two weeks on the Lot and Aveyron. A theatre troupe were dining next to us, preparing to wrap themselves in clingfilm and comedically demonstrate the liberation of a generation of French women. Nearby a parent admonished his child that clingfilm should never be wrapped around the head. 'Jamais, jamais, jamais.'

Cloud shadow, plane shadow

Road to Coveney

Big cloud shadows from the back road to Coveney. The fullness of May.

When in doubt, I remind myself - DRAW.

Browsing at the Sketchbook Project, Brooklyn

Down under Manhattan Bridge

Tokyo 2004

Sekiguchi, Tokyo, 2004.

Casa Mezcal

Bottles and ephemera at Casa Mezcal, Orchard Street. The haze of happiness accompanying this lunch momentarily confused me geographically. Manhattan, not Brooklyn.

Chrysler Building from Empire State

Very cold and windy on the Empire State Building. Ice and snow on the observation deck.

Cutting a block

After a gap of some six years - and now in possession of some decent 9mm birch ply - it's good to be cutting a woodblock again. Therapeutically calming once the shavings start to fly...

Fen Skating

Midwinter's Day - and the third of Fen Skating for us at Welney. Found a rink of our own out in the middle of the Washes and then zipped back along the (thick) smooth and black river ice. Exhilarating. (And a lunar eclipse to start the day too...)

Another Flatiron drawing

Taking time with an HB to find those elusive angles.

Flatiron drawing

Preparatory drawing for monoprints and woodcut

Central Park, the sound of 'Bambu'

Looking south from the roof garden of the Met Museum. A warm day in September and the wind making wonderful sounds as it blows through the Starn Brothers 'Big Bambu' installation towering over our heads.

Seeing clearly in NYC

Clear-cut September light in NYC. Great contrasts and sharp images. Above, a self-portrait seen through a glass brightly - and the building that kept demanding you reach for a camera or drawing book...