Bill Jehle

Colony Ink Drawings 2019 Bill Jehle

These ink sketches were made over the summers of 2017, 2018 and 2019 at our family's cabin near Westcliffe Colorado. These were all drawn basically the same way. I walked around until I saw something I liked. Then I would do a quick pencil sketch or even better just an ink sketch, work in some basic shapes and note some details, snap a picture (to jog memory later) and just about the time I got tired of sitting (or standing) in one place I would take the drawings to the studio. Summer of 2017 was dry, Summer of 2018 was even drier, the wild flowers, grasses and weeds took on an aggressive, desperate exuberance. The clouds were iridescent in the afternoons and the cloudless mornings presented a sky that rang with a persistent clarity that took your breath away. If you've been to the Wet Mountain Valley you know what I mean. My choice of subjects was probably not what you would expect in a picturesque Rocky Mountain valley. In fact most are pretty much what you would see just looking around. The things that caught my attention those summers were the hay fields stretching to the horizon, distant barns, curious cows, rain coming in, fence row perspectives, clouds like galleons loading up and scooting out over the plains, sun through the trees and the complex path of a creek. I was making pictures as journal entries, not creating mementos of dramatic landscape. Though I like the mawkish sentimentality of rustic western scenes (they're like the country and western of art) and to be patronized by photo realistic renderings (often painted from photos) because they demonstrate the artists patience and skill. That's not what I'm trying to accomplish here. If you want real landscape drama you can come to Westcliffe and open your eyes. These were made using pencil and ink (dip pen and Sailor fountain pen with "Sailor Black Ink" and Staedtler pigment liner) on a 9x12in. LEUCHTTURM drawing pad or 12×161/2in. smooth Holbein watercolor paper. These drawings are part of an ongoing project.