Actually, the studio sink. But the idea is the same: it’s not what you paint/draw, it’s how you see it.
After I gave a demo with Stabilo pencil and china marker on gloss paper, I encouraged the students to set time aside to practice—or what from now on I will call “treat yourself to drawing.” One student did just that. Her pleasure in drawing, the fact that this really was a treat, is evident in the five drawings she produced in one day. They remind me of Diebenkorn’s sink with their strong diagonals, the repetition of arched shapes, the chiaroscuro drama of light and dark, and the un-heroic nature of the subject matter. Diebenkorn’s studio sink, E.M.’s kitchen sink.
In the Diebenkorn we see his much used tripartite composition, which we don’t have in E.M.’s drawings, but that’s a subject for another day.
E.M. used china marker and Prismacolor marker on gloss paper to great effect. The solvent in Prismacolors picks up—on gloss paper– the china marker’s black and creates a personal texture, a painterly quality, a feeling of transition and process. There’s an urgency and concentration in these drawings that warrant the Diebenkorn connection. Pretty good company, there, Elizabeth!
Richard Diebenkorn, 1922-1993. Corner of Studio – Sink, 1963. Oil on canvas. 77×70 in
All contents copyright (C) 2010 Katherine Hilden. All rights reserved.
Leave a Reply