R51 Neurones, wingspans

R51 Neurones, wingspans

4 x 8" graphite on panel

R50 Listening

R50 Listening

4 x 8" graphite on paper

The next night, as it was still raining and the symphony seemed to have picked up where it left off, with one of those Mozart pieces that one can never remember the number of, I completed this drawing.  When the children saw it in the morning, they dubbed it 'the raven telephone', and that rather cleverly describes what it is about.  The raven speaks to the artist, who is receptor-ready.

R49 Raven and Neurones

R49 Raven and Neurones

graphite on paper

One of three drawings done while we were camping.  In the first drawing, the neurones are connected to the idea, in the shape of the raven, and that idea of course is ready to fly off and become a real shape, something to be noticed.

It was very late at night when I did this, and it was raining outside.  The rain on the tin roof of the camper seemed a good accompaniment to the classical music on the radio.   I drew the picture by lantern light, with a mechanical pencil.  It may have been Mozart playing: something familiar.

R48 Raven Methodology

R48 Raven Methodology

24 x 24" graphite on panel

private collection

In making this larger graphite work, I was trying to link together the motifs related to the brain, to memory and to vision, that I have used in other works, or found interesting in my studies.  The familiar receptors and neurones can be found, as well as the mouse and  snail motifs, the fish, raven and book, and my favourite cell.bubble motif.

The title comes from the process involved in thinking through and building up this freehand picture (applying to most of my drawings and paintings), the searching of memory, the repetition and mutation of ideas (motifs) and the recording of them (the book).  Although a turmoil, the patterning is logical and limitless in its variation, hence the 'painting that never ends', the ideas that follow one off the other in painting and writing sequences.

R47 Raven Primer

R47 Raven Primer

7 x 9" acrylic and ink on panel

private collection

The prototype for a new idea for black and white drawings on panel.  I wanted to avoid works on paper, as they are more difficult to frame and appear different in an exhibition.  Glass obscures detail.  With everything on panels, the works can be framed the same, and have much the same appearance, which is important for viewing the progression of the sequences.  However, painting large areas of black on panel with ink is difficult and very uneven.  Here, I tried acrylic for the large black areas, and was pleased with the added texture.  It is quite different in appearance from the black and white oils, as the oil is etched and even sketched on with pen.  But I like the quick drying acrylics for pen work.

Sometimes ideas come from nothing, it seems, and I was very pleased with the idea of a raven alphabet book, and a rather lost-looking lady.  Sometimes the very small works are good, because they cannot contain too much: the eye cant take them all in at once, and they form a pleasingly simple pattern.