Excavations (2017)

Made for friend and artist Camilla Thomas, this drawing is an extension of a series of smaller drawings entitled excavations, here's what I wrote at the time of making those around 2013:

"Some new drawings I’ve been making over the past couple of days – part of a series of excavations, so called because I’ve been thinking about drawing as a process of mining. (I should clarify, I don’t mean it’s like I’ve been working at the coalface, more like I’ve been playing Dwarf Fortress…) I’ve had a practice of drawing and doodling since before I can remember – and I’m starting to see each mark as it relates to past marks and how I’ve learned to use a particular pattern in particular instances or how to avoid it. I read an article about how to change your mind on Less Wrong recently and the term “cached thoughts” really resonated with me because I think I can observe the cached shape interactions as they fall onto the page. Sometimes that’s really irritating, some sets of marks will let me drop right into a really comfortable groove (and I have to stamp on the floor to get the needle to jump) but other times it’s like a useful resource of these interactions built up in my head that I can dig through to unearth strata of patterns."