For the balance of the session, I explored the idea of `vignettes', or fragmentary images, that had suggested itself recently. These are two 15-minute studies above, and two 20-minute ones below, each done on 18 x 24" cartridge paper with hard compressed charcoal.
Some of the considerations in these are anonymity versus portraiture, universality versus specificity, and ambiguity versus identifiability.*
Drawing only a portion of the figure has the effect of focusing attention on the parts pictured. As such, I'm atttracted at this point to choosing areas that are less self-evident. Not so much hands or faces on their own. Those are for me the symbolically self-sufficient bits. It's maybe more interesting to draw attention to some of the more easily overlooked areas of bodies.
I have an idea that images like these these will work well in the company of each other, but may not function so well as discrete, independent pieces.
But it's an interesting area to explore for a bit...
* I realise that in phrasing this "x " versus "y", I'm presenting these as opposing binaries, which needn't be a given. Nor are things like 'universality' and `specificity' necessarily points on the same continuum, though I'm thinking of then that way for myself.
I love these!
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