Two more drawings on rag paper

I believe I found a place for this project in my studio practice. I am going to begin each session with a quick ink drawing as a way of loosening up and prompting the mental transition into art making. I mentioned I might name the pieces by the date on which they were created, but today I seem more interested in the subjects of the drawings. I am not planning the compositions or agonizing over what I chose to depict. The point is merely to do something, anything - to be open to the experience and (hopefully) surprised by the result.

Pictured above is a drawing I executed last night after I returned from the Cape. I worked with some acorns to hand in my studio, and incorporated a more automatic mark making practice (the dots) around the perimeter of the composition. I worked back into this piece briefly this morning with a mid-tone gray wash.

This piece was created when I began working this morning. I focused on outlining piles of cannellini beans laying in my studio. The emphasis was on tone, shading, and edge without a slavish devotion to getting it right. I began by laying down quick strokes of water near where I planned to draw and allowing my ink to bleed when the line and the wash met.