Drawings

Ellen Terry

This was an ink wash drawing with a little white pencil. Ellen Terry was a famous English actress that was known for captivating audiences with her eyes. I tried to portray her in such a way that her eyes follow you no matter where you are standing. I really liked working with ink wash. It is an excellent medium for capturing the flow & spontaneity. The drawing was done at Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1980. It is in a private collection in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Overcoat

"Overcoat" contrasts the crisp plastic folds of the coat and the softness of her skin and hair. I think this ink wash drawing was done in Bristol, Tennessee in the middle 1980's.

Our Lady of the Mysteries

This ink wash & pencil drawing is a portrait of my wife, Eve. It was done from a photo taken of Eve before we met each other. It was a beautiful photo. The spirit is that of the Old World and times past. Eve had a lazy eye as a child & the drawing really captures that. Each eye has a different focus, so you can never quite figure her out.
She has a very sensual mouth and such beautiful and skillful hands - I did the best I could to capture them. "Our Lady of the Mysteries" was done in Bristol, Tennessee in the early 1980's.

Johnny

This was an ink wash drawing of Johnny Cash in his 60's right before he died. The source of the drawing was a photograph on the front of Time magazine. I have always thought he had an interesting looking face & a very intense expression. I tried to capture that in his eyes. His face from his nose down actually reminded me of some of Rembrandt's self portraits. The drawing was done at Madison, South Dakota in 2008.

The Prophet

I used a photo of an old woman for the top of the face and I made up the masculine bottom half of the face. So the prophet was both male & female. "The Prophet" was pencil & white pencil on brown wrapping paper. I had done an earlier version in 1967, but my ex-wife ripped it up, & where I had taped it on the back was bleeding through, so I had to destroy it and do a new one. "The Prophet" was very atmospheric, minimal, and done in the style of Durer. Also notice the signature is very similar to the way Albert Durer signed his drawings. This drawing was done at Madison, South Dakota in 2000.

MY FRIEND RODIN

This drawing was done in pencil & white pencil on toned brown paper. After I did it, I realized that his eyes & nose look like mine. Rodin has always been a hero of mine. I used to cut high school and spend the day at the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia or the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I did this drawing at Atlanta, Georgia in 1979.

The Hidden Persuaders

This drawing was done with pencil & chalk on brown wrapping paper. The image is of a very muscular, male back. However, this macho well developed man is made up of all women and children.

Displaced Thoughts

I did this drawing back in Roger Anliker's drawing class at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia in 1965.
Mr. Anliker was Andy Warhol's drawing & painting instructor at Carnegie in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I have taken care of & cherished this drawing because Mr. Anliker loved this drawing and told the class that if anyone had the potential to become an artist, it was me. I was very poor back in those days & could not afford drawing paper. Art materials were expensive. I was out of drawing paper, so I went to the men's room & got a few brown paper towels. So the drawing is pencil & white pencil on a brown paper towel. Mr. Anliker kicked me out of class because he said I should respect my work and not do a beautiful drawing on a common paper towel. It is now 2014 when I am typing this, and I can tell you that this drawing is as good today as it was the day I did it back in 1965 (49 years ago). This live model was sitting in our class. It was almost like her thoughts had wandered off & left the room and all that was left of her was her external vacant shell.

Connections

This drawing was done with pentel pen (ink), white pencil and secretary's white out on brown toned paper at Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1981. The source was a photo from National Geographic. I liked the composition. There are many madonna and child drawings & paintings. But it is rare to see a black man portrayed as a loving, tender father to his children (especially in the South). This drawing is now part of the permanent collection at Mount Marty College, in Yankton, South Dakota.

Mary Anne Asleep

This drawing was done with pencil & white pencil on brown wrapping paper on my honeymoon at Rocky Mount, North Carolina in 1966. Mary Anne was my ex-wife. "Mary Anne Asleep" was done in the style of Albert Durer.

Crossing a stream

"Crossing a Stream" was done with pencil & white pencil on cardboard at Madison, South Dakota in 2007. I was interested in the sensuality of the fabric and the female form.

Homage to the Rabbi

This drawing was done with pencil & white pencil on toned paper at Inman Park, Atlanta, Georgia in 1976. I was trying to capture the younger rabbi's respect for the elder rabbi. So it was a kiss of respect & humility. "Homage to the Rabbi" won first place award in the National Judaic Theme Competition at the Atlanta Jewish Community Center, Atlanta, Georgia in 1976. It is in a private collection in the Southwestern US.

Jack

I have always been fascinated with Jack Nicholson's face. I love his expressions. It's not really evil, but it is like a mischievous little boy. That's what I was trying to capture. "Jack" is pencil & white pencil on the back of mat board. This drawing was done in the style of Durer. It was a demonstration I did for my Drawing class at Dakota State University at Madison, South Dakota in 2008.

Right Foot

"Right Foot" was a demonstration drawing for my drawing class done with pencil & white pencil on the back of mat board. My students said they wanted to learn how to draw feet. This drawing was done at Madison in 2008. It is in a private collection in Madison, South Dakota.

Clasped Hands

"Clasped Hands" was another drawing I did for my drawing class at DSU. It was ink, pencil, & white pencil on the back of mat board. The drawing was done at Madison, South Dakota in 2008.

Drifts

"Drifts" was a study of three female torsos reclining. It was a study of form & volume for a relief sculpture in clay and was cast in white paper. It was a winter landscape and done in Madison in the late 90's.

Residue after the Dance

This pencil drawing was about the memory of an experience. I was trying to capture the atmosphere and the movement of the dancer from right to left as she moved across the page. "Residue After the Dance" was done in Atlanta, Georgia in 1976 or 1977.

Proud Black Man

This drawing was done in colored pencil and xeroxed in black & white. "Proud Black Man" was done in Atlanta Georgia in 1980.

New Colt trying to walk

This pencil drawing was done 3 months after I got out of the navy at Clarkston, Georgia in 1970.

Shannen

This was a pencil tone drawing. It was a commissioned portrait of Shannen Stevenson done for her graduation. The drawing was done at Madison in 2011.

Passion Flower

"Passion Flower" was a pastel drawing on raw
canvas (un-primed). It was done at La Follette, Tennessee in 1980. "Passion Flower" is in a private collection in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, South America.

Adzoul

This was a colored pencil drawing done on black toned Nakoosa Linen 70# paper. The subject matter was an imaginary landscape in the rain. "Adzoul" was done at Atlanta, Georgia in 1980. I wanted to portray the vertical dripping and bleeding color. "Adzoul" is in the private collection of Eve Fisher.

East Wind

This was a colored pencil drawing on tan Nakoosa Linen 70 # text paper. I was trying to capture the wind & diagonal movement from upper right to lower left of this imaginary landscape.

Swan series / Rhonda

This drawing was colored pencil and secretary's whiteout on card board. I turned the photo around which is why the writing "swan series" was backwards & also because this drawing was a study for a black & white mixed media work called "Fleeting Love". "Swan series / Rhonda" was done at Vero Beach, Florida in 1977. The source was a photo I took of Rhonda when we were living together in Inman Park, in Atlanta. In the photo, it was amazing how much her upper hand looked like the head of a swan. Her wrist, lower arm, and folds in dress looked like the neck of a swan.

Smokey

Misty Wells, from the VFW commissioned me to do a colored pencil of Smokey & his grand daughter. I used a color photo as source material for the drawing. He was a very interesting and independent old man. He had the tattoos so long, the ink was bleeding together and it was hard to tell what the image was. It was a very challenging portrait. "Smokey" was done at Madison, South Dakota in 2013.

Lora

This is the first watercolor I did as an adult. Lora was a good friend of Eve, but was also a friend of mine. She is an accomplished artist in Atlanta. I couldn't quite get the color right in her face, so there are small hints of colored pencil on her face. The eyes were exaggerated & followed you as you walked by. The watercolor was done at Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1981. Lora's ex husband, Nick Daniels came by to visit us from Knoxville. I showed him Lora's portrait. He immediately went in the back bedroom & started crying. I know I got that portrait RIGHT.

Lily

This was a straight watercolor. It was a portrait of Lily Bishop, a friend of Eve. She was a very colorful lady in Atlanta, Georgia. Richard Thornton said, "she had the eyes men would kill for". Her eyes were like swimming pools that pulled you in. "Lily" was done at Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1981.

Shattered Dreams

This work has quite a story. "Shattered Dreams" was done with gouache (opaque watercolor), ink, and secretary's whiteout on cardboard. The original title was "Derelict". My ex- wife, Mary Anne ripped it up after a fight. I taped it back together on the back & found an old battered frame to put it in. I told Mary Anne that I would never have had the courage to rip it up and to do it so beautifully. That really pissed her off. So she actually enhanced the work and I changed the title to "Shattered Dreams". Originally it was done in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1966. It was ripped at Clarkston, Georgia in 1974 and we were divorced in July 1975.

Woman washing her hair

This drawing was done in ink, & colored pencil. The subject was negative space or the background. It is almost like a Magritte painting. The positive shapes were two male torsos (the rocks) separated by a water fall (really the woman's hair). Her face, chin, and nose defined the top of the male torso on the left. Her neck, chest and breast defined the side of the male torso on the left. The drawing was done at Bristol, Tennessee in the early 80's.

The Bath

"The Bath" was a mixed media piece. I was experimenting with materials. I used ink, black coffee (with no sugar), and berry juice. I went out & collected poke berries & squeezed them and added water to make the natural dye. I wanted to achieve a feeling of wetness with the different washes of color. The drawing was done at Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1981. I used a photo as a source. It is in a private collection in Bristol, Virginia.

Dance with Self

"Dance with Self" was the first drawing I did after I got divorced & moved to Inman Park in Atlanta the summer of 1975. It was done with ink wash, secretary's whiteout with a hint of colored pencil on cardboard. It was a radical change from the style of artwork I did before 1975. There was a sense of movement, a sense of becoming, with spontaneity. The model was Susan Muse, a fellow artist & friend. I had borrowed some photos from Susan that her friend Dee had taken of her dressed up and dancing in the woods. I started xeroxing the photos in black & white and arranging them. This started a whole series of work in drawing, painting, and sculpture. "Dance with Self" is in the private collection of Eve Fisher.

My Garden, Fred's Bouquet

This was a mixed media piece of xeroxed photos, tape, and colored pencil. The poetic imagery of a young girl dancing was as beautiful as a wild flower blowing in the wind. It was as if I looked out my bedroom window, and someone had picked the flowers (dancers) and put them in a vase as a bouquet. The drawing was about relationships. In the top half was my relationship with Susan. Susan was like my sister. There was very little color, but lots of mobility & freedom. The bouquet in the bottom half was Susan's relationship with her boy friend, Fred. There was plenty of color but there was confinement, no movement, and eventual fading of color and death. I cut out the xeroxed dancers in the top part with an exacto blade, glued them, and colored them with colored pencil to create flowers in the vase at the bottom of the page.

Susan's Garden, My Bouquet

This was done with straight watercolor. My wife, Eve, told me that "My Garden, Fred's Bouquet" was a really nice idea, but I could do it better. So I changed mediums & did it over. I changed the direction of the dancers from left to right (the direction we read), added more space at the top with a window shade, darkened the room (to brighten the view outside), added the light on the window sill, moved the bouquet from left to far right, used a different vase, added the direction of the wind as it moved across the page, and I also made all the flowers the same color. The view of the dancers outside looked cold and crisp. The dancers seemed to zig zag in and out of the window panes. The dancers appeared not to be flesh & blood, but fairies dancing in the crisp, morning light. In the last window pane, the dancers were transformed into warm flowers inside. I took my time doing this. I let each color dry before I applied another color. "Susan's Garden, My Bouquet" was done at Bristol, Tennessee in the middle 1980's. It is in the permanent collection of the artist.

Eve 1978

For our 30th anniversary of when Eve & I met in Atlanta, Georgia I wanted to do a portrait of Eve the way she looked back in the fall of 1978. I did it from a photo I took of her at her carriage house behind Mrs. Davenport's house on Blue Ridge ( not far from Manuel's Tavern on Highland Ave in Atlanta.) Her hair was coal black. The portrait was done in ink & colored pencil. "Eve 1978" was done at Madison in 2008.

Frank

This was a portrait of Frank Senger. I met Frank at the Little 5 Points Pub at Inman Park in 1977. He was best man at our wedding at the chapel at Emory University in 1979. He is like a brother to me. He is an actor in New York City & has been in films like "The Professional" and "Maximum Risk". "Frank" was done with ink & colored pencil at Madison, South Dakota in 2008. It is in the permanent collection of Frank Senger in Astoria, New York.

Portrait of Rembrandt

This was a drawing of a painting (one of Rembrandt's self portraits). I did it as a master study at Atlanta, Georgia in 1975 while in between jobs when I was working as an illustrator/ graphic designer for the State of Georgia. It was done with pencil on two pieces of paper sandwiched together. In 1977 or 78, I photographed this drawing & had it blown up to 4 ft. X 4 FT. It was interesting to see what happened to the enlarged pencil marks. They became objects in themselves. That "Portrait of Rembrandt" is in a private collection in Bristol, Virginia.

After Leonardo

This was a pencil & white pencil drawing on parchment paper. It was a study of an angel's head for "Madonna of the Rocks" by Leonardo Da Vinci. "After Leonardo" was done in Madison, South Dakota in 2000 ( about 6 months after I retired from full time teaching at DSU). It was done in the silver point style. What I learned by doing this was that Leonardo was left handed. To make the drawing strokes the same as his, I had to turn the paper upside down. I used to have my students do master studies because it is a great way to learn.

After Vermeer

This drawing was certainly a challenge I made for myself. I have always loved this painting by the great Dutch painter, Jan Vermeer in the 1600's. His sense of light was magnificent. This colored pencil drawing was a tribute to him. The first problem was translating an oil painting to a pencil drawing. They were two different mediums. I wanted to understand how the colors were created & mixed. I decided to go back to basics and the primary colors. If I were to teach painting now, I would only let my students use three primary colors - red, yellow, and blue, plus white. Black could be made by mixing all the colors together. I decided to try to create this image of what has been called the girl with the pearl earring with ONLY 3 colored pencils RED, YELLOW, & BLUE. All the colors that you see have all 3 colors in it, just different proportions. The hardest colors were the really darks ( the background, the eyes) and the neutrals (the pearl earring, and the shadows).

After Velazquez

The three really great painters of the Baroque period (17th century or 1600's) were Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Velazquez (Spanish). This drawing was done with pencil & blue pencil at Madison in 2002. "After Velazquez" is a pencil translation of an oil painting by Velazquez of Pope Innocent X in 1650. The beautiful oil painting was done in all warm colors. I decided to do the drawing with a cool blue tone. I tried to capture the fierceness of the eyes and his angry mouth. Pope Innocent seemed to be boiling on the inside, you can almost see the smoke coming out of his ears.

After Rodin

This was another one of my master series of a modern 20th century French sculptor and master draftsman. Rodin was primarily known for his sculpture, but his quick sketches and gesture drawings are beautiful. This is a quick pencil drawing with a spontaneous brush drawing with watered down ink on canvas paper. I was trying to capture the dancing movement & spontaneity of the pose. The twisting transparent outline of the figure was like a glass container that housed the circular flow of energy (the ink wash). This drawing was done at Madison in 2001.

Vincent & Allan

This was a mixed media piece. On the left, there is a colored xerox of Vincent Van Gogh's self portrait painting he did in Arles, France with his ear bandage when he cut off his ear & gave it to a prostitute. On the right, is a xeroxed photo of me that Michael Hope took, photo shopped & then I hand colored it with colored pencil & pastels.

I had been in a gasoline fire in the summer of 2006 and was burned badly from the neck up. I had to have skin transplant surgery on my ears, and wear a large bandage that tied on the top of my head (like Aunt Jemima). Eve & Michael decided we needed some comic relief so they dressed me up as Vincent Van Gogh and photographed me in my studio. The hat I have on was sent to me by Frank Senger from Russia when he was acting in a film there.

Uplift

This was a pencil line gesture drawing trying to capture the upward movement of the model. It was done from a live nude model in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1981.

Seated Female

This was a quick line gesture drawing done with a pentel pen. It was done from a live model in a drawing class at Radford University in Virginia in the late 1980's. The figure was seated on a wooden stool. The line drawing was like a tracer of my movements as I drew the female figure. Wherever I paused, there is a black dot of ink on the paper towel drawing. So you can actually see the timing or speed of the drawing.

Bonnie Reclining

This was a pencil line gesture drawing of a live model reclining at a neighborhood drawing class at Virginia Highlands, Atlanta, Georgia in 1975. Notice the economy of line - how her hand and her arm are the same line. That is what Matisse called correction in his drawings & paintings.

Stretching

This was a quick pencil line, gesture drawing trying to capture the stretching movement of the female figure. "Stretching" was done from a live model in a drawing class at Radford in the late 80's.

Twisting

This was a pencil line gesture drawing done on a brown paper towel. It was of a pregnant live model at Radford. I was trying to capture her twisting movement in space. It was pretty interesting & unusual to draw a pregnant nude model.

Untitled

"Untitled" was a line gesture drawing of a live model in a drawing class at Radford in the late 1980's. The purpose of a gesture drawing is to capture the pose or movement of the model.

Kneeling

This was a quick pencil line, gesture drawing of a kneeling female figure. It was done from a live model at a drawing class at Radford in 1990. I believe the pose was 1 1/2 or
2 minutes long.

Wishing

This was a pencil line gesture drawing of a live model in a drawing class at Radford in 1990. Notice the lighter pencil marks on the lower legs which helped to push them back in space. This pose was a little longer - maybe 4 or 5 minutes.

Swaying

This was a very quick pencil line gesture drawing on a brown paper towel. I love drawing quick sketches on paper towel. It frees me up, so I'm not worried about making a mistake. Really expensive paper is too precious to be spontaneous and loose on. With paper towels, I can be free. The anatomy may not be perfect, but you can get the general idea across. You can not do a spontaneous line slowly. If you don't believe me, try signing your name to look like you normally sign it, only do it slowly.

Arching

This was a quick line gesture drawing of a female kneeling & arching her back. It was done from a young nude live model in a drawing class at Radford in the late 1980's. I liked this one because of the line that connects the hair and her foot.