Bark Studies - Ink on Paper

I have recently discovered Ellsworth Kelly plant drawings in a book titled 'Drawn from Nature:The Plant Lithographs of Ellsworth Kelly (2005). This is a publication produced in conjunction with a touring exhibition organised by the Grand Rapids Art Museum, published by Yale University Press.
"To know the nature of things is the basis of humanism", "the plant lithographs of Ellsworth Kelly capture our interest and awaken our spirit as we move among them". These are two quotes taken from the Director's foreword (Celeste M. Adams).  Referring to the pencil and ink plant drawings Ellsworth Kelly states:
"In the way that I would draw the plants, they were not nostalgic, not pretty flowers.  My drawings were to meet the eye direct".  
Within my self directed study proposal my aim was to create work that connected me and my audience to nature, to see directly, to engage on a more spiritual level.  Kelly is painting as a Zen painter, where brushstrokes are mindful with the simplicity and purity of line in these plant drawings become objects for meditation.  Although not versed in Zen Buddhism he began the drawings in the late 1940's at at time when Zen popularisation in the U.S. evolved through the writings of D.T. Susuki.  It appears that he was attracted to Japanese calligraphy.  He was aware of Japanese paintings and perhaps intuitively understood their spirit.

"You must not copy nature. You must let nature instruct you and then let the eye and the hand collaborate"  Ellsworth Kelly.  It is about a connection to the lived experience. It is about capturing an essence that when one revisits a drawing the moment and circumstances of their creation returns with great immediacy. They show no detail no extraneous detail which allows for a sharp focus on the single plant for.  It is perhaps an expressive connection to a bridge to the phenomenal world.

Oak III 30" x 36" Edition of 30.  lithograph in Series of Oak Leaves 1992/3

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In comparison I have made drawings which extend and interpret my close observation of the oak tree and its components.  Each drawing has elements of the element and is a new perception.  They are not about a meditative response more about unique responses to an object - the multifarious ways one can observe and awaken a 'new way of looking, a different language'. I am using the bridge analogy from a different perspective.


Below are images relating to the bark of the oak tree.  All worked in Sennelier black ink on Somerset soft white textured watercolour paper - each 15cm x 21cm.