http://drawger.com/cusack/ Thu, 09 Dec 2010 15:35:44 EST FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://drawger.com/_images/drawger_leo_logo.gif http://drawger.com/cusack http://drawger.com/cusack/index.php?section=articles&article_id=11699








The top two drawings are by Karel Dujardin, 1622-1678. I discovered them recently in a new book. Both drawings are of the same model. In the first drawing we find a shepherd who "raises his shirt to keep it dry while fording a stream." Never heard it put that way, but for sure I will be using that line. I just love this drawing so much i had to share. The technique is sublime but I also love the gentle humor in this depiction. While thinking about these two drawings Isabel Bishop popped into my mind. Here drawings, also wonderful, are the last two here. How similar in so many ways.

]]> Thu, 09 Dec 2010 20:35:44 EST http://drawger.com/cusack/index.php?section=articles&article_id=11643

Each year, sometime around my birthday, I do a self portrait. This is for 2010. Today is my birthday. The shirt that I’m wearing carries a great deal of significance. I grew up in NY, but many of the new comers to NYC are from the Midwest. Amazingly, it seems like most are from Michigan!? To what used to be hardened neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens, these “newcomers” bring a revived spirit of kindness, curiosity, business, and incognizance of what was, in many cases, a violent past. They bring with them a fresh start. I realize that I’m always shedding, healing and beginning again. I so embrace these new values. Wearing this shirt reminds me that I’m not my past, my story is always changing, and I’m getting closer to finding my way home.

]]> Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:52:09 EST http://drawger.com/cusack/index.php?section=articles&article_id=11589

Take a look at what Charles Ritchie is doing. I think some of you will be interested and delighted. http://www.charlesritchie.com/newwork.php?s=i00 It's unique and awesome. If you have some time, read a few of his journal entries. They're typed out under his "journal" tab. I love the one called "A Window on Philadelphia" http://www.charlesritchie.com/journal/2010/02/09/a-window-on-philadelphia/



]]> Sat, 13 Nov 2010 16:42:42 EST http://drawger.com/cusack/index.php?section=articles&article_id=11530

It may not be too apparent but it’s something that I surely feel. My drawing style is changing. At one time I drew in a very academic style. There was a process to my approach, to the way I observed. Habitually, I began in the same way even though the subjects where different. What an odd concept. Now I understand that every drawing, every painting, every new subjects requires a new unique approach. Each vision I’m investigating has its own place to begin. Its own purpose. Its own method. Similarly, recently I’ve been toying with the idea that process is something that we use to guide our vision, and understanding while we learn how to draw, paint. But once you know, strictly adhering to a process might actually get in the way of a deeper, intuitive approach. I see it in Velazquez’s work. Early in his life of painting it’s easy to see that he’s painting along with a process in mind. Then, what seems to be all of the sudden, he lets go of his process and paints from a different place within. Surely confidence is a part of it. But I think there’s more to it. What can we see, what do we feel, what do we know, when we put down the preconceived notions that process applies? What opens up? What I notice for myself, I will keep to myself. But I would like to say that when I shut my brain off, when I just respond, no accuracy is lost, and I’m much quicker. I wonder what the Sundance Kid would say to all of this? Funny .  . . talk about styles changing. This 40′s looking guy was texting away at my York Street F station. Some things never change.   A few days later. i just thought I'd add some other examples to clarify. By the way, It was just a few years back that if I drew someone with their head down they were reading. I'm noting now as I looked back though tree recent books that everyone is texting, or nosing around in there phone. Again, what's the difference. In the ol' days it was the daily news, everyone. Nowadays very few papers, lots of digitime.









]]> Tue, 26 Oct 2010 13:55:40 EST http://drawger.com/cusack/index.php?section=articles&article_id=11142 A few observations from a recent trip to Mexico. http://petercusack.com/watercolor/







]]> Tue, 24 Aug 2010 15:58:46 EST http://drawger.com/cusack/index.php?section=articles&article_id=11075

Two of these drawings sustained a bit of damage while sitting innocently in the corner of my apartment. A leak from the apartment above spattered water on the first drawing. The water bounced off the top of a box that stored sketchbooks, landing on this drawing that was propped up on the wall beside it. Fifteen years of sketchbooks were damaged as well; very painful. The second drawing was torn when the corner of a frame, stored next to it, slid across the drawing’s surface. I guess I’m learning that I need to take better care of my artwork. Maybe use more durable and archival media. I also learned that I liked these drawings more then I let myself know.  I did them/do them while teaching my classes. It’s a way to keep me busy while giving students time to work out issues on their own. I end up trying new stuff, too. So I thought I would post the most recent drawing (the third) along with the other two that were very recently damaged as a way to respect them, and preserve them. I already uploaded a phone pic of the third drawing to Facebook; apologies for the redundancy. By the way, Thomas Anshutz, while teaching a cast drawing class at the Pennsylvania Academy, drew along with the students. I did a search online to share a few with you, but couldn’t find the knockout drawings that I have in a book about him.





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