Branches and Lines is very large. It is based on the photograph below. This photograph was taken on my drawing table in my North Adams studio.

I scattered apple tree branches across the table randomly to document them. The branches were part of a sculpture that I placed outside when I lived in Worthington to test its durability but it fell apart.

The photograph was too interesting to let go merely as a photograph.

I started to fiddle around with the photograph so that I could see the image differently. I adjusted the photo to make it black and white. With this switch, I could understand the contrasts more clearly and decided to translate it to a large ink drawing.

This is the beginning stage of the drawing.

The finished drawing is below.

Details are below.

The details below show my interest in the ways in which descriptions and signatures of the artist are portrayed on particular woodblock prints in the Meiji period in Japan. The last image shows where I placed my signature. I also signed and wrote the title on the back of the drawings.

The “characters” are derived from images I have made by photographing twigs and/or their shadows and creating unified shapes.