Charcoalings

A series of charcoal artworks I made inspired by pointillist drawings with poetry. As always, I'm fine with anyone sharing my art with credit.

Context

I tend to have trouble drawing things, in the sense that I am horribly unmotivated to do so. In October of 2014, I bought a copy of Yoko Ono's Acorn, and immediately appreciated the drawings within.

So I went down to the art store, bought some charcoal and some big paper, and set out to try drawing feelings instead of things. Turns out, when I'm angry-like (specific emotions are hard to describe) in particular, drawing the feelings out can be therapeutic. It's like everyone was telling the truth about art the whole time.

What I hung on the wall.

At the end of it all, this is what my apartment wall looked like:

The blue painter's tape is a patented mounting system. (I'll probably choose a few to frame soon.)

Below are all of the individual works. Of them, I chose to hang up, from left to right: Unease, Complex, Crawling (rotated), and Dripping

Individual Works

These are listed in the order I made them. There were a few tiny works (as in, actually done on tiny paper) that I regarded as warm-up that I never took pictures of. But other than those, these were my first works with charcoal.

Spiral

October 11, 2014

I'm still really pleased with how this one looks, though I'm not sure exactly why. Messy yet clearly defined, perhaps?

Shading Practice

October 12, 2014

A friend gave me some pointers on shading with charcoal, and suggested I practice, so I did. This shape just... happened.

Complex

October 13, 2014

Inspired by the drawing on the page facing "Connection Piece VI" in Acorn.

Hello

October 14, 2014

Inspired by the drawing on the page facing "Wish Piece III" in Acorn. Moved on before I finished getting the shading the way I wanted.

Unease

November 5, 2014

Inspired by two different drawings on the pages facing "Room Piece II" and "Sound Piece IX" in Acorn. This shape, too, just... happened.

Dripping

December 7, 2014

Largely unplanned. Definitely based on how I was feeling at the time.

Crawling

June 3, 2015

Largely unplanned. I really prefer the way it looks when rotated, though this is the orientation used when making it.