Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon Portland Community College

Autumn Light and Wind, Hyatt Lake by Phyllis Trowbridge

  • Title: Autumn Light and Wind, Hyatt Lake
  • Artist: Phyllis Trowbridge
  • Medium: Charcoal
  • Size: 20"h x 26"w
  • Added to collection: 2016
  • Donor: Purchased by Portland Community College, Rock Creek Campus
  • Campus: Rock Creek
  • Location: B9/1 Event Center

This fresh and lively drawing of trees by a Hyatt Lake (near Ashland, OR) was made with a confident hand.  The gestures of each tree are translated into notational marks that are sensitive to pressure and direction, from the boldly rugged trunks in the foreground to the spindly, bare firs in the distance.  The marks are all made with a stick of willow charcoal, dragged or pointed or pressed against the paper.  Trowbridge has achieved a deep sense of space by alternating the values from the light foreground to the dark trunks, to the shimmering lake, to the dark far shore. The circular shape in the middle implied by the curved branch and answered by a curved shadow makes a strong counterpoint to the rhythmic vertical intervals of the trunks. The fact that there are apparently few corrections on this charcoal drawing indicate the artist was "in the zone" when she made it.