In that sense, a Bill Harrison portrait is like a classic novel. The subject matter is felt more than seen; hidden in plain sight between the smudges, lines and dots made by his Wolff carbon pencil. Viewers of a Harrison portrait don’t just see a hunting dog; they feel an adrenaline rush through the dog’s eyes as a grouse bursts from an aspen stand.
Harrison describes his depictions of hunting dogs and wildlife as “realistic, but not photo-realistic; expressive, but not self-expressive.
“My fascination with art has always been with the process of making something look like I want it to look, not with conveying any kind of message or self-expression,” he says. “I don’t have anything balled up inside of me looking for a way to express itself. I just like the technical challenge of art.”
Even the most realistic photographs can’t match the intensity of a great realistic drawing because photographs are limited to what the camera lens sees. With his pencil, Harrison transcends such limitations, bending reality to suit his purpose.
The Wolff carbon pencil preferred by Harrison combines the sharp lines of a graphite pencil with the rich, black lines of a charcoal pencil. When he draws the pencil across 300-pound hot press paper — heavily textured paper with a thickness between heavy cardboard and light poster board — tiny white spots appear where the pencil doesn’t reach fully into the paper’s tiny pocks and crevasses. Harrison painstakingly goes back and fills in some of those spots to achieve the desired texture and precise level of detail.
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Denne historien er fra Winter 2020-utgaven av The Upland Almanac.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Tailfeathers
The essence of fly fishing, I think I've decided, is time.
Ten Questions with Tim Flagler, Fly Tyer/Cook Extraordinaire
Culinary Creations from Gordon Hamersley
GREY on the Wing
Hands clutching the wheel of a large, lumbering vehicle whose vintage and purpose partially prompted the invention of \"powering steering,\" disengaged the clutch and applied the brakes, bringing it to a stop.
James Purdey & Sons Ltd.One of London's "Best"
At the conclusion of a recent breakfast meeting of the Shrewsbury Men's Club of Massachusetts, I was packing up my show-and-tell aids after giving a presentation.
WAWAWAI
I don't chase chukars anymore, but from the time I was 16, chukar hunting had been my favorite bird hunting endeavor.
A FAIR EXCHANGE
Among the concerns faced by many small community gun clubs here in the Northeast is our inability to attract and maintain new and younger shooters.
Coming to Heel
I'n the world of gun dogs, it's not unusual that retrievers are taught to heel.
Bird Dogs - Health Matters
Avoiding Medical Mishaps on the Road
MATT HART
Matt Hart, owner, designer and artist of Hartist Metals, is a highly skilled metal sculptor based in the picturesque Catskill Mountains of New York.
Luigi Franchi Imperial Monte Carlo Extra: One of Italy's "Best" SxS Doubles
As on London’s gun-maker’s row, Italians had skilled craftsmen who made “Best” guns of superb quality