My semester-long drawing project is finished!!!

So I've been working on this project all semester. It is a giant, abstract line drawing based around a closely cropped image of a bicycle. The Fabriano paper I worked on was 5 feet square.
Here's my artist statement:

Art and spirituality are intertwined throughout history, not only because art can depict religious ideas, but also because art is meditative. My drawing, with its intricate patterns and constant movement, is created parallel to my thoughts and struggles, much like the works of artists of old. Pens become channels through which the musings, questions, and laments of the day flow onto paper and become lines, shapes and textures- words in an abstracted journal of my thoughts.

            Artistically, this piece is a study of the movement and shading that can be attained through line quality. Every imperfection in the piece contributes to the organic nature of how the lines flow and join together, in much the same way as hills and valleys flow together to form a landscape. A heavily cropped bicycle gives the work its composition; it brings the designs of the piece together much like a bicycle lets its rider feel and understand the landscape being ridden through.

            This piece brings together two things that I love: art and bicycles. It is a compilation of many thoughts and emotions brought together in abstract form. Meditation and prayer were inherent throughout the creation of the piece- without them the work would hardly have meaning. As you view this piece, remember that, much like the tankas of the Tibetan monks, its creation was an act of meditation and it is in this that the artwork gains its meaning.

 -Colin Mahnke