Subtractive Process

Snow sculpture on deck 2015
Snow sculpture on deck 2015

I was talking to a woman at Martin’s party about why I like charcoal drawing. She taught for years at the Creative Workshop and is now studying at the Chicago Art Institute. She explained that she was pursuing a course of study that involved removing the ego from the art making process. I couldn’t make sense of this and pretty much threw a monkey wrench into the conversation when I said, “Maybe I don’t really know what ego is.” That led to a discussion of art making basics like what tools we use and I found myself saying I probably do more erasing than I do drawing, a subtractive process.

The big pile of snow on our deck, the hard pack stuff that I shoveled off the valley in our roof, has been shrinking for weeks and of course I have been photographing it. I took this picture this morning but the little creature behind the big chunk is gone now. It’s been in the mid forties today and the whole thing will be gone tomorrow.

Leave a comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *