Get Back to Where You Once Belong(ed)...

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm

Familiar subject matter here at TOoT in the (voluptuous) form of a pair of pears, on this occasion much larger objects, of the ‘Comice’ variety, than the recently represented examples of miniature fruits found locally: given this, the objects are drawn sight-size, from a distance of about 3 feet, rather than to life scale as is the habitual practice, in order to compose them in more appropriate, comfortable relation to the physical limits of the A4 picture plane.
As has become recent environmental habit, the objects are lit from both the left & from behind, by the ebb & flow of the glow of the television screen, creating a particular blend of fugitive illumination that plays on both the objects & with the nature of the cast shadows.

There is a certain poignancy to, & historical significance in, the depiction of ‘Comice’ pears in particular, as fruits of this variety provided the objects of study for the very first pear drawings I made, the initial examples of what subsequently developed into a substantial series of tonal studies, in charcoal, during my Cheltenham undergraduate days, one of which is presented below:


This image has, in fact, already featured on the blog, back in the day, in the context of the presentation of a watercolour of another group of pears, where it was supported by a text that, part of which at least, still relevant, it seems appropriate to now recycle (with a few additions):

"[a drawing…] which seems to illustrate a much deeper level of engagement with the subject & (encourage a) more profound aesthetic experience altogether. The drawing (was processed upon) gorgeous, heavyweight Fabriano ‘Rosaspina’ paper, intended for printmaking but wonderfully receptive as a support for charcoal too, the surface of which breaks down easily to allow access to an underlying soft, crumbly texture perfect for retaining the marks of the drawing(’s) process, a record of its making and revisions (the drawing in question, like many of its contemporary fellows, was heavily worked over a period of time, a number of sessions), (an accumulation of marks &) layers of memory fixed in physical form, the scoring of the surface echoing that occurring on the pears with the passage of time, becoming a particular physical aspect of the drawing-as-an-object (as opposed to it being ‘merely’, flatly two-dimensional) and incidentally giving the drawing something of the appearance of an aged photograph, transparency or grainy film still".