New as of yet untitled series. These are pen on paper. I am figuring out how I want to paint them. Working through some ideas before I sit down and begin. The idea of the gridded image is one of interest to me. I have for years made drawings in a framed line. It was always the first mark on the paper. Setting up the space and the size.

Ink on paper 2012cc

Ink on paper, 2012cc

Ink on paper 2012 cc

Ink on Paper 2012 cc

Brush and ink on paper. 2012cc

Dark blue ink on paper

Ink on paper

Flower Study 2012 CC

Notebook Drawing

Notebook Drawing 2012

Pen and ink on paper

Framed Willow Branch Drawing courtesy Jennifer Kostuik Gallery

                                         Willow Branch Drawings

The Willow Branch series was started a few years ago in my studio as a break from my paintings. The immediacy and freshness of the ink on paper felt like a wonderful meditative exploration to me. I trusted the brain in my wrist to guide my hand and allow myself the freedom and looseness to find the form. With a minimal amount of lines there was nothing to hide behind. The sureness of my eye and the distance I had from the work using sharpened willow branches dipped in ink created drawings that are both elegant and fine.

Curtis Cutshaw 2012 

Framed Willow Branch Drawing. Courtesy Jennifer Kostuik Gallery

Framed Willow Drawing, courtesy Jennifer Kostuik Gallery

Willow Branch Drawing. Willow branch, dark blue ink on paper

Willow Branch Drawing. Willow branch, dark blue ink on paper

Willow Branch Drawing. Willow branch, dark blue ink on paper

Willow Branch Drawing. Willow branch, dark blue ink on paper

Willow Branch Drawings. Willow branch, dark blue ink on paper

Willow Branch Drawing. Willow branch, dark blue ink on paper

Willow Branch Drawing, willow branch, dark blue ink on paper

Willow Branch Drawing, Willow branch, dark blue ink on paper

"It's hard enough to make art when you devote your life to it. It's agony to see grown men and women struggling over paintings a five-year-old would throw away." Chuck Close talking about hobby painters.

Willow branch, dark blue ink, on paper

Willow branch, dark blue ink, on paper

Willow branch, dark blue ink, on paper

Willow branch, dark blue ink, on paper CC12

What I have always loved about drawing is that I can do it anywhere at any time. There is never any issue of preparing or cost involved. I read once that Jackson Pollock when he was so broke he could not afford paper he would take bank deposit slips for paper to draw on.
They can be as big or small as you want them to be. Small enough to fit in your pocket or large enough to cover a wall.

Willow branch and ink on paper. CC2012

This Drawing which was made this past week is from a series I started in 2001. Only recently have I returned to it. The drawings are made with cut willow branches dipped in dark blue ink on paper. Some of the drawings are made with branches as long as three feet in order to get back from the drawing while still having contact. I have always walked back and away from the paper to look at my drawings while working on them. Using long branches enabled me to be back from the work in order to see it but still be able to work on it at the same time.  Having only recently looked back at this series I have found a new energy for it and a shift in direction that has taken place some 11 years later.

I remember going into a gallery a few years ago with another painter. Upon entering we saw a drawing show. The show consisted of artists who do not draw, or at least not very much. We said to each other that the dealer must have said he was putting a show together and needed a drawing from each artist in the gallery. We left after having a good laugh knowing that they certainly were not what we were. I draw all the time. They are an activity all in themselves. I have always believed that painters have drawings for blood. If you do not draw then don't show them. Other people may not see what you are but a draughtsman will.