Thursday, April 29, 2010



Fracture #4

Charcoal and pastel on paper, approx. 40" x 26"
Private Collection


No new painting today, as I've been framing works for a show (details soon.) Meanwhile I'm occasionally posting works from my checkered past. This drawing dates to about 1985.

This beautiful ceramic piece by my longtime friend Tom Dimond was a treasured part of our collection and I felt terrible when it was accidentally broken. But looking at it shattered on the floor I couldn't help thinking "This is really interesting!" The pot became something of an icon to me--it ended up in many drawings and paintings. In this early one it seemed interesting to turn the broken side away so the pot seemed almost whole again, then lay the pieces out like "evidence." I'll post some of the other variations on it in the future.

12 comments:

RUDHI RĂ¼scher said...

Ah! And I admired your beauty-Pot as a Metal-, maybe Tin-Pot; beautiful painting; background I would contract more...

patrice said...

Very cool.

I always enjoy seeing the breadth of another artist's work. It's beautiful with its somber mood quite fitting to the situation.

Judy McLaren said...

Don - absolutely breathtaking. You have such a tremendous range of subject matter and approach.

Sheryl Parsons said...

So life like! Beautiful.

Don Gray said...

Thanks, RUDHI.

Don Gray said...

Patrice, thank you for your thoughtful comments.

Don Gray said...

Hi Judy--thanks a lot! I guess I'm all over the map style-wise, but I can't help myself.

Don Gray said...

Thank you Sheryl!

Anonymous said...

it's wonderful! my initial reaction was... is there any medium that Don can't handle? and it would be good to see the others.

Don Gray said...

Thanks so much, Rahina!

Dean Grey said...

Don!

This is gorgeous! The background has so many rich colors in it. Just as stunning as the pot itself!

Neat to see your early works. You were good even back then! Uggh! I'm jealous!

Who knew you could create metallics with pastels!

-Dean

Don Gray said...

Hi Dean--thanks a lot! I remember it felt groundbreaking at the time to do that loose, abstracted background.

I'm old as dirt, so even "back then" I'd been painting for 15 years.