Strange Formation

This is my second drawing in silverpoint:


Strange Formation, 2009, silverpoint on cardboard with prepared ground, 9" x 8.25" approx.

Of course, I've had to darken the image as the silverpoint has not oxidized yet (a process which can take weeks or months, apparently). I enhanced this in Photoshop using a photo adjustment layer & a bit of sepia tone to simulate the changes that occur in the silver traces that constitute the drawing. When the actual darkening process reaches maturity, I'll try to remember to scan in the piece at that stage.

The subject matter: I've always been fascinated by the strange rocky outcroppings seen especially in old Flemish/Netherlandish paintings. The Netherlands is, as any fule kno, a relatively flat country, so the grotesque & fantastic rock formations are a kind of wistful imagining of countries like Italy, where the painters had actual mountains to draw upon for inspiration. This kind of vaguely anthropomorphic formation also reminds me of the Isle of the Dead (again) and the Extersteine in Germany, a place I've never visited, but would like to, since I saw it on TV as a child & it immediately embedded itself in my visual memory.

BTW, the piece of cardboard that the above was drawn on, was taken from the back cover of an old, incomplete sketchbook. You can see my other blog, if you'd like a glimpse of what was in the sketchbook.