Pen and Ink stippling marathon is finished, until next time...

Frothy Surf (click photos to view larger)

My latest pen and ink drawing titled “Frothy Surf” has been selected for the Ocala Art Group’s Fall juried show at the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala, FL. This art show titled “On the Balcony” is on display in the second floor Balcony Gallery from Sept. 4 through Oct. 3, 2010. The inking is approximately 15" x 8.5" and before another person asks, I simply have no clue how many dots were stippled to create the scene. Counting would slow down my stippling. ;) What I do know is that after the image was drawn out in pencil I spent around 15 hours stippling with a fine “0” weight technical pen.

As I sketched the outlines to guide my inking I realized the whimsical background could feel more dreamlike as a flat plane, like a curtain or “wall” of water. The stippling unites the realistic and stylized elements as does the gradual flattening of the wave. This is something I’m already exploring in the composition for my next inking.

“Frothy Surf” was inspired by photography I took at Ormond Beach, FL a few years ago. In fact it’s the same day’s shoot and same individual snowy egret that I referenced in the inking “Gone Forever” (a tribute to Kodachrome film). A modified version of that bird drawing is shown on my website and the back of my design firm’s business card. The card was printed at a very high resolution allowing you to see the individual stippled dots under a loupe with the snowy egret less than 2" tall. I know... who’s going to really pull out an 8x loupe to look that close? Someone curious about printing like me...

The birds seemed so comfortable hanging around me along the water’s edge that day. They were in search of a seafood snack and I kept imagining small fish washing up in the foamy waves. The inspiration for “Frothy Surf.”

I hope you get a chance to visit the art show to see the diversity of fine art by the talented OAG group and the museum’s wonderful collection and special exhibits.  -pw
Appleton Museum of Art (link)
Ocala Art Group (link)