Three Works in Pencil: Collaboration

w/Amanda Shoup

2007—2008

- C. Shoup

“When I met Amanda in 2004, she was living in the second floor

apartment of a tilted house. Her paintings hung on the plaster walls;

crammed amongst her living room furniture was an easel surrounded

by paints, brushes and sketchbooks. I lived in a tiny coach house that in

winter nearly froze solid. Framed or ready-to-be-framed art leaned

against the walls; army green cutting mats, x-acto knives, photography

equipment and books occupied most of my miniature living room.

“It was instant love. By the summer of 2005, we moved into a small

brick home. Our art gained better display spaces on broader walls. We

had more room for our supplies. Alice was born. We continued to

teach, parent, and also work (at different paces) on our art. Our “free”

nights (which were rare) were spent watching episodes of Six Feet

Under. Finally Amanda said, “Let’s work on something together. We

can hang out, listen to music, create art and talk.”

“It was an excellent idea. So I got drawing paper…”

Our living room (2011), captured in a rare moment of total organization.

“...and I put a 4’ x 4’ piece of masonite on the floor. Onto it I placed the

heavy paper. Amanda got out her tackle box of colored pencils. I laid

down and started to draw from the top (the “sky” section of the piece

at the right) and Amanda started to draw from the bottom (the “jungle”

section). We viewed each other’s work from opposite directions. Our

simple plan was to compose something that would be one step beyond

an absentminded sketch.

“Amanda had created finished,

framed drawings in her past, but

it was my first time drawing more

than a passing doodle. She

discussed complimentary colors,

and she showed me how to

blend colored pencils. I just

wanted my seam to merge with

hers. It was a lesson for me.”

This is what it looks like when dreams come true, 2007

Prismacolor pencils, Arches France paper; 17” x 23”

“We finished our first piece and decided to carry on our momentum.

For our second piece, we started with a theme. I don’t know which of

us came up with “tree” but we laid on the floor, faced the blank paper

from opposite directions, and started our trees.

“Amanda continued to blend colors, and I watched her, and we talked

about our work (she pursued the ‘tree of life’ while I pursued the ‘tree

of industry’). She insisted we leave no white spaces. I insisted the

piece flow in a circular motion. You

can see hints of melding between

our individual voices.

“This particular piece is designed to

be periodically rotated on the wall,

because it can be read from top or

bottom.”

Rethinking the tree, 2007

Prismacolor pencils, Arches France paper; 17” x 23”

“After understanding how to work with one

another, we decided to go for a masterpiece. I had

an idea about commenting on society’s love affair

with watching celebrities fall. Amanda agreed on

the concept. We exchanged sketchbooks for two

weeks, debating about the composition and

jockeying for egotistical control. This turned out

to be a mere foreshadowing. Our marriage nearly

broke apart during the three months that we

actually worked on this piece. Each of us were

committed to creating a single, coherent

composition that supported one theme, but to get

to that end, we needed to agree on a veritable

mountain of details, and we fought like rams.

“This piece reflects sound organizational decisions

between artistic minds, a composition with

definable movement and flow, and above all else,

this work ensnares and engages the viewer.” Early sketch; JoJo invading the workspace; color

decisions

The Movement of Celebrity Commodity within Mass Population, 2008

Prismacolor pencils, Arches France paper; 21” x 33”