Returning to My First Love

About fifteen years ago, a local estate sale organizer tipped my wife off about a couple estate sales, strongly urging that I attend. My wife was one of her regular customers, and somehow she knew I was an artist.

So I went, and scored a huge supply of oil paints, canvas, brushes, palettes, paper stock, and even a large flat file on rollers. The flat file was an especially large wooden monster with 12 drawers at 30" x 45" each. And it was stocked with paper.

There were large sheets of 300lb. watercolor paper (very heavy and thick), sketching pads, tear-away palettes, pastel paper, colored paper and more. It was a treasure trove of variety: In short, it was an artist's dream.

Among the hoard was a stack of paper that I couldn't discern a use for. It was heavy cotton-based paper with a very fragile facing. There were 20 sheets at 19" x 24" each. I suspect it may have been used for letterpress printing.

Not being into letterpress, I left the stack alone. As an art supply hoarder, I couldn't bring myself to throw it away.

A couple weeks ago, I finally grabbed a sheet, slapped it onto my drawing table and took out my graphite pencils and gave it a go.

As drawing paper, it's not very forgiving. Any attempts at erasing will tear up the face of the paper, leaving unsightly rough spots. But as a drawing surface, I liked the texture, so I kept working at it.

"Conquered" (graphite, 6"x10")

Drawing is my first love as an artist. When I was a kid, if I had a pencil and a sketchbook, I would happily sit for hours drawing anything from mountain landscapes to – my favorite subject – maritime scenes and sailing ships. By the time I entered Jr. High, I was noticed by teachers who urged me to pursue a future in art.

Dad was not so pleased by this. He didn't think "art" was a viable or reliable career.

He was right. Art is a hard career field to enter. The learning curve is steep and it takes persistence and a fairly obsessive attitude to make it.

I was lucky, I had lots of teachers and professionals who offered great advice, helpfully directing me into the field of graphic design where I could grow as an artist, and earn a living by helping businesses and organizations with their marketing needs. Yay, Capitalism!

Now that I'm (mostly) retired, I'm renewing a relationship with my early love of drawing using these sheets of paper I've had lying around for so long. I will eventually get a supply of high-quality drawing paper, but for now, these are working great as I work to remember skills I used to have.

Sunrise at Redrock (8x10 graphite & charcoal)