Boy with a Violin, Cat as an Audience

Boy with a Violin, 2012, Etching with color pencils

This quite small 6" x 9" etching piece took quite a long while until it came along. I started it as a small, pleasant gift to a friend at the end of last year, 2011. It was meant to be quick, simple, funny and whimsical. I drew it out with a soft ground on the etching plate, which (usually) allows a very soft and pencil drawing feel to the print. It came out way too light, as if I erased the pencil drawings and it still left the trace on the paper. After I redrew, soft feeling I wanted was already gone.

I abandoned the plate for several months, then went back to it in the spring 2012. I put it through several layers of soft and hard ground drawings and aquatint. Then I colored it with color pencils.

So the supposedly light and simple drawing became a bit heavy. I wanted it to be Jean-Jacques Sempé like whimsical (and masterful!) drawing, but it became, well, my drawing. Though I did not like the piece for quite awhile, now I kind of like the cheerfulness of the boy's expression while he is being ready to play in front of his trying to be patient audience cat.

When I was planning this whole series (which I did not continue) of instrumental playing kids, I wanted them to be light and cheerful, mostly practicing not performing. As a little kid, when I was learning to play piano for the first time, it wasn't so much about fun. It was more about practicing and playing correct according to the note. It was, sadly, boring. Needless to say, one has to go through different phases to get better at something, but I still would love it to be something more fun and enjoyable. That's what I want the children in my drawing to have when they play musical instruments.


*more pics at the shop! Click here!