My latest large-scale drawing is “Eclipse” ink on paper, 55×55 inches. I’m fascinated by eclipses, especially our little moon blocking out our blazing sun, and all that courtesy of orbital paths—my drawing practice almost exclusively relates to orbits. In particular orbits of ink lines around a central point.
Recording process
“Eclipse” was drawn over a three day period, the drawing consists of eight continuous ink line plots. The drawing of each line plot was recorded as a time-lapse video, then all eight time-lapse videos were edited together and speeded up even more to squeeze the entire drawing process down to less than a minute.
I use my iPhone to record all my videos, time-lapse and otherwise. To make this video I treated myself to a new piece of equipment from B&H Photo, a Glide Gear overhead boom with an iPhone holder, that attaches to my very old Velbon tripod from college days. I was a bit apprehensive about the full overhead view but it worked out fairly well.
I’ve made several variations of this drawing process video—the one shown here is converted to black and white and is speeded up to about 27 seconds. I enjoy watching these time-lapse videos mostly to get a chuckle watching myself twisting and contorting around as I draw round-and-round the paper. They are also quite useful in determining how I can make the drawing process smoother the next time I do a large scale drawing.
Materials choices
Six Faber-Castell Pitt Big Brush black India ink artist pens were expended during the drawing process. These are my pens of choice because of the rich color and no odor—it also helps that they contain a lot of ink. The pen nibs are also quite strong, a requirement for all of my drawing implements given the nib is stuck into a small hole in the drawing gear and that nib takes a beating as it is used to not only draw but to pull the drawing gear around the page.
My paper of choice is Fabriano Artistico Watercolor Paper, 100% cotton. The black ink sets up very nicely on this smooth hot press watercolor surface. And at 140 lb it holds up to the abuse it receives from gears dragging across the surface and me putting my full body weight on it when drawing—moving and walking on top of the drawing surface.
Underlaying the entire drawing is gator board which is a denser, stronger version of foam core. The center drawing wheel is held down by map pins which are pushed into the gator board. It’s also sturdy enough to keep it from denting too much as dents telegraph through to the drawing surface. The drawing wheel in the center has a layer of padding taped to the gear as I place my knee on the center gear and use my knee to pivot around while drawing. Makes a great work-out!
Mary Wagner
“Eclipse”
black ink on paper
55 x 55 inches
This drawing is available, contact me for price and shipping costs.
MARY WAGNER ART BLOG 