Irish Drawing

As the heading of this blog I’ve chosen one of my recent drawings, made with pen and colored ink. The landscape is a peninsula in the West of Ireland near Bantry where I spent a week last summer. The wind, the shifting patterns of green, the cottage set like jewels among the hedges and stone walls, the dark water under shape-shifting clouds – it all stays in my mind and, I hope, comes through in the drawing. The landscape was timeless and eternal but never did I see it looking the same. I have quite a few drawings in my sketchbook - I'd have had more if not for the #*&%# horseflies swarming out of the lovely wildflower-covered hedges! The pen line is watersoluble, so when I add the colored ink it does double duty in adding color and pulling the two elements into a wash, which I can control but not too closely. I’ve been doing quite a few drawings recently with this technique, including some from from my sketchbooks on a recent trip to Sea Ranch. I love the way I can set up a drawing with my line and choice of color and then watch it take on a life of its own with the liquid from the brush. I’ve always been an advocate of processes where I can cede some of the control to the materials, and where expertise, wisdom, and skill engage in a dialogue with chance.