One. Full. Year.

Good day all,

Today is an interesting day.
Why, doth one say such things? Well, today marks one full year from the first day I started posting here on the website (seriously, go check it out).  It's been a good year and if anything, enjoyable and entertaining.  Which is something to try and have little of, especially during the busyness that life seems to bring.

So to celebrate this monumental human achievement (please hold your applause) I thought I'd post a few things in regards to something I've been asked about a couple times.  It's also something I myself, and probably most artists, find curiously sitting on the edge of our minds when viewing another's work.  It's something we think about, analyze and wonder.  It makes us scratch our heads and smile.  

The process of creating.

Whoa, right?  People really bite into this topic though and rightfully so.  From the questions of Vermeer's possible use of the camera obscura to the x-rays used for a mere glimpse at the layers beneath Da Vinci's masterpieces.  It intrigues us, surprises us, and helps us learn and grow.

Personally I've always enjoyed this topic but one memory that comes to mind and encapsulates this interest was a trip the National Gallery in Washington, DC.  This was during the high school years and my classmates and I were lucky enough to be personally shown a drawing of Raphael's.  Just sitting there.  Right in front of us.  Not under glass.  Not behind a velvet rope.  But sitting just a few feet from us.  It was memorable not only because it was a Raphael but because it was a small look inside the ideas that came about and eventually lead up to the finale.  We were even given enough time to sketch the drawing itself.  Think I still have that in my old duct taped sketchbook somewhere.

How'd we get the opportunity?  Eh, I've no idea.  Maybe it was normal procedure.  Or Mr. Morris was well connected? A bribe?  Someone lost an arm wrestling contest (I wouldn't have arm wrestled Morris)?  Who knows.

Okay, well that's a lot of talking which I hadn't planned on doing.  So anyway, as I mentioned I've been asked a couple times myself about my own process and I thought it may be interesting to do a little x-raying beneath my own, in comparison to the above, meager attempts.  In particular, the piece shown above called The Witch of Faith Lane.

BUT unfortunately I've eaten away my time with talk and now I've actually gotta get back to the drawing board, literally.  So to be fitting with the occasion of this one year monumental human achievement (continue holding applause) I'm going to do something I've not done before.  And that is...

TO BE CONTINUED...


Thanks all and talk with ya soon!

- Doug

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