Grandfather - Ink and acrylic drawing
“Grandfather” 5” x 7” (12.7cm x 17.8cm) Ink and acrylic drawing on
J. Perrigot, Arches 90lb Rough Watercolor Paper.
unframed $30.00 each. Shipping priority Mail® in USA $5.00
International shipping to most EU countries $11.00
(contact the artist for international purchase)
To purchase this drawing or for more information send email to: wolberinchina@hotmail.com
This is a new direction for my blog. In Oriental calligraphy there are many styles of writing. In this series of drawings I’ve used that idea to create a limited edition (12 numbered and signed original drawings, each is unique and original) of the same subject. Each is done with similar strokes using my own hand-made tools. Each drawing in the series is very similar and is done in calligraphic style. I first experimented with this style many years ago as a student, but now am taking that idea a step further. Just as in artistic calligraphy, each work has slight differences but the subject or character is the same. Calligraphy is nothing new to me since I taught many students in calligraphy classes based on the Roman alphabet, for many years as a professor at the university level. Then, when I taught in China, I had the opportunity to observe Asian calligraphy styles and painting.
One reason I have a strong belief in developing high-level craftsmanship in one’s artwork is the influence of my maternal grandfather, so he is the inspiration for this drawing. He was a blacksmith, carpenter and barn builder. I never knew him because he died before I was born, but when I was a small child we lived on the farm he had built and I would play in his workshop. The tools he left behind fascinated me. There was a forge with a huge bellows operated by bicycle pedals that my mother says she would sometimes peddle for him while he worked metal on the forge. As I grew older I was curious about these craft processes he used and learned as much as I could about the tools and the methods he used.
Since I never knew my grandfather, this drawing series is made from some of the old men I knew who reminded me of the photos my family left of my grandfather. As such this could be everymans grandfather. I have in my studio a few photos on metal plates made of my grandfather and grandmother when they were married. One is posted below. The drawing, however, is inspired from a time when he was older. His ancestors came from Alsace-Lorraine, so part of my European heritage comes from that area.
