“Pile of Power”, 16x20 inches, colored pencil

This was an ambitious drawing for me. It was larger than anything I’ve drawn before, and the color palette was quite limiting. I spent over 60 hours shading, blending, and a little bit of crying. However, the process was worth the product. This piece captures the cold metal of the man-made engines, as well as the organic composition of these beat-up and used machines in a discard pile. There is a contrast within this piece that is captured in multiple ways. There are smooth textures and rough textures. The shadows of the depths of the pile and the highlights of the shining metal. The sharp edges on some pieces and the tangling wires and tubes.

When I first took this photo, I just wanted to draw one of the engines by itself on a white background, almost like a standard still life. However, I felt that I should still with the theme of “piles” to capture the abundance of how much is tossed away.

Something interesting about this piece are the differences between each part. I began to have much more interest and respect for mechanics and the way that machines work. How can these giant hunks of metal make a vehicle move at our command? They carried so much power at one point. Why do they eventually break and end up here, discarded and no longer powerful?