Let's Delve into Two Thousand Twelve!

Hi there! To everyone who says that there's nothing that rhymes with 12, I say, "Suck it!" Suck my delve! I'm just kidding, but I just realized a few weeks ago that "delve" rhymes with "twelve." I just had to put that into a title of this post.

Now, onto the picture I have illustrated above. Last week, in the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, I traveled up to Nor Cal, specifically Santa Cruz, to my Dad's relative's place. Along the way, I spotted these rugged mountainsides just south of Santa Barbara. I took a picture, since I am a compulsive picture taker whenever I travel. Then I got the impulse to draw this.

Unfortunately, it took a while, and then got shelved underneath the other books I was working on at the time. However, I picked it up again today and completed it. That's the unfortunate nature of my drawing. For the last few years, I have had more and more priorities in my life, so even though I still draw, I have less time to devote to it. I love working with my hands, when it comes to this. When I am sketching, for a while, my mind is focused, but I don't feel any stress in this focus. I don't have to force it; it is just there. However, I often have to shelve (hey, something else that rhymes with "twelve") something for a few weeks or months, and then come back to it.

This picture below shows just a sample of the types of hillsides I was describing (just next to the 101 Highway, overlooking the beach).

Just for comparison's sake, here's my drawing again. See if they look alike.

So my point in following this impulse was to make a quick drawing (that didn't quite work), but also in doing a good landscape drawing, which I always love doing. I have always had a thing (a fetish, perhaps?) for sketching hillsides and mountains. I have always been fascinated with mountains, hills, slopes, cliffs, canyons and gulches as artistic subjects. So I have been doing sketches and detailed, color drawings of them for a long time.

Here are a few examples of some of the best ones I did in years past. This is one I did of the San Gabriel Foothills, just north of Arcadia, in 2007.

I spotted these from Santa Anita one late afternoon on a Saturday. I just happened to have my notebook with me, and I really wanted to do the late afternoon glow and brilliant shadows on the hills justice. I apologize for this photo still being turned sideways. I crop and rotate these photos in Picasa as soon as I upload them to this laptop, but that doesn't always show up when I go to put them in the text.

It was, of course, done quickly, so I didn't give it much detail. However, I think I got the texture accurately. Look, and see if you can find the brittle, dry-brush feel to the mountainsides with your eye. Admittedly, I did not go heavy on the shadows when I did this. It has taken me longer to make my shadows darker. My studio art teacher used to get on me about that. Speaking of rough drawings, here is one I decided to do while in up Lone Pine this past July, 2011.

Again, the Picasa edits I made didn't seem to compute here. You can see the tones of light better expressed in this one, though. Even though it was done in all of one evening, I did my darndest to capture that late afternoon, early evening glow that the sun casts. Challenging as that is, I love to draw it. I love that type of challenge. Speaking of this glow, I did one about three or four weeks ago, which was about that same light quality, and the shadows it casts.

There must be some trick I'm missing, here. It's been a while since I've used Blogger on a regular basis, so I am still getting used to using all its tools. As you can see, I have changed the blog's settings and appearance, and I am working on embedding videos properly, so that we don't have any more mishaps. I've got some pretty good ideas, so I'm gonna get all the kinks smoothed out.

Anyway, this one was even more rough than the one above it. I began putting the color down even before I had all the details laid out. That might not make sense to you, but to me, it is a big distinction. You have to understand that I used to be quite anal about putting in details, drawing them out very meticulously. I made a big risk of losing the visual details and texture of it by laying out grass in the field, and shadows on that hill.

I picked this because it was winter. The image in my mind of that time of year, December, winter, and Christmastime, was of this snow-dusted landscape. I have spent a lot of time in my drawings expressing the mental snap-shots that I get when I think of something. These aren't necessarily clear-cut or logical, but this is the image I saw in my minds eye when I thought of that time of year.

It comes from trips I used to take to my grandparents' house in Golden, Colorado, outside of Denver. A few times, we drove the whole way. We would always have to get up early, leaving at dawn. Along the way, we would have to drive past the mountains and valleys in Utah. I remember, when we went on this trip at Christmas three years ago, in 2008, the route was unusually covered with layers of snow.

I was taken by the qualities I saw in the scenery: the ruggedness, the cold air, the orange and yellow glow of the late afternoon, and yet, the warm familiarity to the scene. Even though this was a different time, it brought me in touch with my past and memories. These were the visual qualities I wanted to bring to the viewer in this work here.

My point in this drawing was not to make it look exactly like the photo, as it has been in past works. My point, as I explained above, was to communicate the visual feeling of what is in this image. Sometimes, I just want to show the physical texture to the scene, as I like to do with landscapes. Other times, I like to go deeper with my meaning. Especially with illustrations of people, there is often deeper meaning. Whether it is visual, physical, emotional, spiritual, or romantic depth, this has been a cornerstone of what I like to explore in my creative work.

Well, I feel really inspired, having finished that picture, and typed this post. In spite of the kinks with the photos, and embedding the videos, I feel really excited about the future of this blog. Like I said, I've got some really good ideas for artworks and posts brewing up. For instance, I went to the Occupy the Rose Bowl gathering yesterday, I'm working on a picture regarding that unique development, and I should have a good post for you sometime tomorrow night. I'm excited as to what this year holds for creative work in this blog. I have been excited to develop this blog and its spirit.

So see ya soon, and keep wondering, folks!