Hand Bound by the artist in white cloth, 51 pages, plus three left blank – essentially a completed book. White artist’s paper. 6” x 4 3/4”.
There are works in watercolor; some watercolor mixed with clear acrylic;
opaque watercolor; gesso; powdered gold mixed with acrylic; pencil; colored ink pens, and collage.
This book of some of my earliest works is a compendium of materials and manners (Cubist; Surrealist; abstract, etc.). Many of the drawings and watercolors are forerunners of developments occurring here and there, now and again, over the following forty five years or so of my works an artist, and to some degree, writer.
It is a key landmark in my evolution as a visual artist.
There are a few fragmentary writings, bits of script on gesso grounds. They are among the so-many openings I would like to have followed with more works in such a manner. This is a recurrent feature of my hand bound books as well as my sketchbooks.
The works are largely experimental in nature, although some, such as the five surrealist images with nudes, amount to fully realized paintings. Few have been given titles, in line with my dedication to letting viewers come to their own perceptions and interpretations.
This is especially true of the sixteen abstract pencil renderings. Here again I simply let the date of completion stand as some form of identification, or at least some orientation as to place in this oeuvre.
Sixteen of the last eighteen pages are devoted to simple color patterns, ornamentations of sorts.
With its overriding nature of foreshadowing my future work, and the largely experimental leitmotif, I consider “Variations…” a key element best served as an aspect of an archival collection embracing as many facets of my life’s work as possible.
As I have noted elsewhere, however, I would be willing to discuss this book as an individual acquisition. Along with other objects in my hand bound book and sketchbook category, it is very much a gallery, a collection in itself.
My Five Published Books
Trout Reflections
Following the Water
Year of the Turtle
Self-Portrait With Turtles, A Memoir
Swampwalker’s Journal
Hand Bound Books
A Book of a Number of Hours
A Book of Winter Buds
A Book of Winter Branches
Borradores
Landscapes – January 20, 1978 – April 1978
Variations: February 1, 1967 – August 1, 1968
Visions: Drawings and Paintings: 1976 – 1988
Exhibitions
“Seldom Seen” Exhibition at the Davidow Center
“Beyond Words” Exhibition at the Currier Museum
Galleries
“Seldom Seen” Gallery
David’s Wildlife Studies Sketchbook
Virtual Gallery of Art Produced for My Five Books
“Regarding Women Regarding…” Introduction
Sketchbook Gallery: 4/1/1985 – 10/14/1987
Swamp Sketchbook
The Swamp Dialogs
Drawings and Watercolors Produced to Illustrate my Published Books
CODIT – Compartmentalization of Decay in Trees