"SENTINEL BY THE SEA"
24k gold & pure silver on prepared paper
5-1/8"x 8-3/8"
We have the most beautiful windswept (and often windlashed) live oak trees here on our stretch of the coast. They are absolute portraits of the wind, meaning you can see the wind in them. The drawing pictured above is a commissioned piece I just finished.
Years before working in metalpoint, I did several drawings of these trees in pencil. I always felt they lent themselves nicely to be rendered in pencil but I feel even more strongly about doing them in metalpoint now, that is to say gold and silver. This will be the last gold and silver drawing I do for a while now that I'm exploring platinum in a new series of metalpoint drawings for my upcoming exhibition. I will be working with new subject matter exclusively suited for platinum. I can't explain why certain materials and subjects strike me as compatible other than it just feels right. I wouldn't use metalpoint for just any subject. There has to be some connection between the subject and material used to render it, and although I'm not always conscious of what that connection is..... I sure can feel it.