Illinois Trees

12" x 12"

pencil on paper

There's a diagonal split of the top and bottom: the top half is about the compression and density of dots/leaves and the bottom is dark verticals in a white field. The top also focuses on the exploration of a range of values while the bottom sticks to stark contrast. I found the light situation interesting, the spaces between the leaves and trees allowing the light to seep in and the strong sun that can bleach and burn grass. The bottom plane recedes with a vanishing point two thirds over, a convergence of lines behind some dangling leaves looking like grapes from a Greek fresco.

The circles seem to move as one looks at them as a whole. Soft, they are different in feel than my work done in color. They remind me of the enlarged grain of an oil photograph and there is something nostalgic about them. Done while visiting an old friend; it was a good day.