Elephantness

I got the idea from a Rembrandt black chalk drawing of an elephant depicted in Fred Gettings’ book, Techniques of Drawing. Gettings was alluding to Rembrandt’s extraordinary draftsmanship, his (Rembrandt’s) ability to capture the essence of a thing—in this case, an elephant’s “elephantness.” The concept struck home with me, so I went to the zoo and made an attempt of my own using a gray Prismacolor Nupastel and a white Conté crayon on an 11” x 14” black posterboard support. This was the result.