Silver Bells, Drawn in Ink

This drawing began with wanting to have a go with life-like, realistic drawings in ink only. When I was first learning to draw, I felt like if I could make something look realistic - I had learned how to make art! Now of course I know it's much more than that. This holiday still life was drawn using bells gathered in a bowl, threaded with curling ribbon. Familiar objects, handled every December, usually glanced at and then packed away again.

The piece was drawn entirely in ink and wanted the direction of the strokes and gradual buildup of tone, the shift in pressure to be visible.

This drawing represents a period when I was deeply interested in realism. The result is about observation and how ordinary objects become complex when you give them time.

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Around this time I also experimented with a few other realistic drawings using only ink - drawing from cassette tapes in my dads collection, and champagne corks (from my collection!) 😉