A Buckle in Beemerville

My most recently revised drawing came from a sketch made several years ago in Beemerville, New Jersey. The man in the sketch is Leland Bell. I sketched him first at an outdoor picnic table,leaning over a radio/tape player. He was listening to a piece of jazz music, tapping out the beats with his right hand.

After listening to his music, Leland rested by the side of a small outbuilding. I drew him again in that spot, recording the two poses on the same page - dual aspects of Leland Bell. Leland was very ill at the time and it was impressive that he made the trip out to New Jersey to be with his graduate art students.

In order to finish this composition, I darkened the foreground and extended lines throughout to tie the elements together. This tying together in the final drawing reminds me of an observation of my husband’s about certain historical works of art. He coined the word, "buckling" for the technique of unifying a composition by attaching the lines that create the spaces and forms at various junctures like a buckle on a shoe.  In two areas, Leland is the buckle.