TRICYCLE DRAWING PROJECT

SPLIT is a process-oriented piece:

– I sat in front of two children’s tricycles, one pink and purple, and one red.

– I wrote for 15 minutes about what they made me think of. I wrote about how my dad used to ride a big wheel and race his friend Craig when they were little kids. They would race around the apartment complex, and meet on the other side, seeing who could get there first. My dad always left his tongue hanging out when he focused, so when they crashed into each other, his tongue ended up getting pinched between their handle bars, almost cutting his tongue in half.  

– I drew ten children’s tricycles on the same sheet of paper, overlapping one another and creating shapes, lines, and compositions through the abstractions my layered gesture drawings made.

– I did some research about tongues in relation to the writing I did while looking at the tricycles, looking at taste buds and the inside of lizard tongues, finding some really interesting textures and patterns. I liked the vascular aspect of the images I saw, and decided to get close up and create something scientific and organic. 

– I added and subtracted, using erasers and vine charcoal, which was pretty much the only medium I used throughout the process. Finding composition in the craziness I had created was interesting, as I wanted to find balance but had to create some that wasn’t there.

– I used the various layers of matter I had created to fill the composition appropriately, and balance the dark bottom right corner out with the darker pieces in the top left. I also fleshed out the bumpy texture with a touch of white pastel to give contrast and dimension. 

PROGRESSION

I’m always looking for ways to layer, which may mean flatting or giving objects dimension but not in a way that necessarily makes them identifiable. One thing that pleased me to hear in critique is that the content I created here was familiar, but still unidentifiable, fantastical, and kind of gross. I can see how the space within the frame is a little confusing, but I don’t know if I mind. I think it adds to the idea that we’re looking under a microscope.