Evolution's End

A new drawing:


Evolution's End, 2009, brush & ink on paper, 23.5" x 18".

For the Entropy Series.

Forgotten Sentinel, 2000

Here's another excavated & resurrected drawing from 2000 to be put into the Entropy Series:


Forgotten Sentinel, 2000, brush & ink on paper, 25.5" x 19.75"

Now, I should probably make some new pieces.

Decay, 2003

Normally I'd put pieces from the archive on my other blog, but this one is different as I've decided that it, & some other pieces from around 2003, belong in the Entropy Drawings series (which you can view in its current state on MySpace here.)


Decay, 2003, brush & ink on paper, 24" x 19".

I find the drawing reminiscent of Arcimboldo (the head made up of bodies & body parts) & also Ivan le Lorraine Albright, with its theme of decay & decomposition.

Agent of Change

That's enough silverpoint for the moment. Here's one of the Entropy Drawings that I did a while ago (a month or so) that I at first rejected, then I looked at it again the other day & decided it might work:


Agent of Change, 2009, brush & ink on paper, 23.5" x 18". It relates thematically to the figure drawing "Future Human", also in the series.

Ship of Fools - large working drawing

After a brief interlude, we return to serious business:


Ship of Fools (working drawing), 2009, brush & ink on paper, 23.5" x 18".

I'm going to put this piece in the Entropy Drawings series for now, though it's not technically a finished piece, rather an extended sketch. Still, I think it might fit, thematically & stylistically. Time will tell, as usual.

Note: as you may be able to see, there is no water.

Woman With a Very Long Neck (Beauty Among the Ruins)

After my brief interlude of high strangeness sigilry (see post below this one), here is a new (actually, newly enhanced) drawing for the Entropy Series:


Woman With a Very Long Neck (Beauty Among the Ruins), 2009, brush & ink on paper, 23.5" x 18".

It's from my Mannerist period, which lasted, oh, for the length of time it took to do this drawing. I did it a week or so & was almost happy with it, I even had it uploaded on my blog for a little while, but decided I didn't like the neck, mostly. I think I've now improved it, as well as a few other parts of the drawing. Time will tell, as usual. I may take it down again.

Hiroshima: Ground Zero 2009

Reflecting on the Museum on the Seam (& NY Times) references below, it occurred to me that the Hiroshima: Ground Zero image would fit seamlessly (pun intended) into the Entropy Drawings, so I created a new version:


Hiroshima: Ground Zero, 2009, brush & ink on paper, 23.5" x 18".

This is not a copy per se. It's much larger than the previous versions, which were small. I created it without referring to the original(s). It's done in brush & ink, the original drawing was done in pen & ink (a somewhat rusty Speedball ink pen that I found lying around at the time). There are slight differences in the layout & details. However, the essence is pretty much the same, with the vaporized souls of Hiroshima depicted in the spaces between the hatching.

In general, I don't like to repeat myself literally -- of course, themes and images recur throughout my work. However, from time to time I like to return to an iconic piece, to see if something new can be drawn out of it.

Ruined Man

An Arcimboldoesque (see link) Entropy drawing of a figure made up of ruined architectural elements:


Ruined Man, 2009, brush & ink on paper, 23.5" x 18".

I've kept the background empty. I might do another version with a sky or landscape or something...didn't seem necessary. I could even do a mini-series of figures like this. BTW, I don't always do sketches for these, but in this case I did. Here is the original thumbnail sketch:


That's done on the back of an envelope, as you can probably see. It was lying on my desk when I had the idea. The confirmation number refers to my electricity bill & has no deep significance.

Upheaval

New Entropy drawing:


Upheaval, 2009, brush & ink on paper, 23.5" x 18". If you look closely, you can see a couple of pencil sketch lines -- those will be erased.

The Citadel Falls

New Entropy drawing:


The Citadel Falls, 2009, brush & ink on paper, 23.5" x 18". I was looking at Breughel's Tower of Babel the other day, might be related to that.

The Death of Death

A new drawing, a little dark perhaps (but maybe not if you think about it):


The Death of Death, 2009, brush & ink on paper, 23.5" x 18". Entropy Drawing.

The Oracle, Overloaded

New (Entropy Series, probably) drawing:


The Oracle, Overloaded, 2009, brush & ink on paper, 23.5" x 18".

I guess we all have days like these.

The Day the Machine Stopped

New drawing, possibly not finished, possibly Entropy Series:


The Day the Machine Stopped, 2009, brush & ink on paper, 23.5" x 18". Click on image for a better view.

Difficult to photograph due to the fine lines (#3 brush). At least partly inspired by the E. M. Forster (yes, Howard's End guy) short story, "The Machine Stops", which we read in high school & was apparently influential.

The fineness of the brush lines make it difficult to see at this resolution, but they also give it a ghostly quality which I quite like. Maybe I'll leave be.

The Entropy Series

Here is an overview of the Entropy Series as it currently stands:


Click image for larger view.

I was updating my MySpace page last night after a long period of ignoring it for some reason. The image above is an edited screen grab of the drawings on MySpace.

MySpace has the option of uploading images into albums, so I put the Entropy series into an album. I did the same with the "Ruined Cities" btw. I find it useful to be able to see this kind of overview from time to time. The Entropy drawings now comprise around 12 drawings, mostly from 2009, but there is one from 2003 that was just waiting for this series to happen. This is not to say that the above is the finished series, or that even all the images will remain in the final series. I don't even know how many drawings there will be...maybe 20...

Link: www.myspace.com/billayton