This is the last piece I completed before taking a long hiatus from art. It was based on several sketches I made from a location I now live near – the Mill City Ruins on the edge of the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis.
The use of white space continues from my other drawings (Sioux Falls Mill and Alcatraz) but more intentionally. While in the other drawings the white space developed with the drawing, in this image I planned specifically to use white space to represent objects (like the wall) in the foreground before I ever started drawing. This allowed me to have use starker outlines.
Shortly after I completed this drawing, life took over. I was out of art school, working a lot of hours in technology, and without the constant pressure of “having something due” art fell off my radar.
Interestingly enough, years later when I picked up a sketchbook again, this was one of the first locations I drew. I never get tired of sketching these ruins. In fact, early on a Saturday morning, when the weather is nice, there is a chance you can still find me there with a sketchbook in hand and headphones in my ears.