“Station Lobby” Charcoal, pastel on 20” x 30” board

Charcoal is a very forgiving medium that allows my natural obsessive/compulsive side a way to thrive. With little to no anticipation of the outcome, I use the broad side of a stick of this black chalk and cover my entire drawing surface in random, rhythmic strokes.  I depend on the fact that most marks made in charcoal are easily blended and extremely flexible. At a certain point in the process of repeated erasing and drawing my hand becomes my brain. It’s almost innate. There are incidents where I have been able to visualize the final work in these first gestural moments, while other compositions can elude me for long periods of time.

More often than not the spaces that emerge as I work are large in scale and public in nature. This sense of broad visualization was helpful in my career in the Theme Park design industry. Some of the drawings on this page are contained in a book called "Fun In The Dark, Adventures of David Doherty" available at this site http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/1610976

Cityscapes and Interiors

The Boat Ride Series