A Manifest Of Toil

Pen & Ink Drawing By Doug Ashby

The chosen path was not one of ease.
I did not tread lightly in decision,
and many a moon was spent indecisive.

But how could I not fulfill a dream that without me might be lost.

How could I not respond to all that had come before me, and perhaps in the process elevate what once was, and forgotten, to a new ideal.

To a new reality.
To a new station.

For my destiny is to toil and manifest anew.

For me this might be one of my favorite artworks I have ever done. In fact I think I will have to create a stipple version of it, despite having believed I was done with that process. A notion I always seem to be fooling myself on.

The work is not necessarily new for me, on a conceptual level. I have done many food artworks in the past, and many more that have abstract, almost surreal landscapes. In a previous work I married those ideas and did a piece that I thought was fresh and unique. This second one just took that to a new level. At least in my eyes. Truthfully I can not say for sure what it is I love about this drawing. Is it the composition, the value and contrast, the hatching. Probably a combination of all.

I sincerely hope you like it as much as I do and that you download yourself one and print it out. I would love to hear your thoughts so please leave some feedback.

Thanks, Doug.