Today I finished an elaborately detailed pencil drawing of a sketch of fossil fish. The original sketch was used for what became a series of paintings in monochromatic hues that I dubbed the “fossil series.” I had used the fish on the top of the pair to create a painting that was much darker than the rest and incorporated some of the deep golden brown translucency of the nearby black water Edisto River. So I named the painting “Black Water River.” “Black Water River” is now in a private collection but the painting had some moments of public acclaim as part of my group exhibition at the Gibbes Museum of Art, “Aesthetic Transplantations: Yankee Seeds in Southern Soil” back in the early 90's.
From blueprint for a painting to a complete art work in its own right, my pencil drawing took on a very different character from its original context. The minute background details that were not present in either the original sketch or the actual fossil, gave the drawing a woven tapestry feel. Drawing in this slow style did indeed feel like other forms of slow art, like mosaic making, weaving, or beading.
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