Drawing: Spirit Stone 3 by James Edward Scherbarth

One stone, drawn with the patience of something that has been sitting in a river.

Drawing: Spirit Stone 3 is a hand colored graphite and pencil drawing on paper by James Edward Scherbarth (1949-2021), dated 2020 and signed and dated en verso. Drawn slowly and in series, a single subject becomes a kind of portraiture. The oval stone sits alone in the middle of the sheet, pale and dusty at the crown, darkening to charcoal at the base, with fine strokes of rust red worked through the gray. A broad white mat and a dark, silver-edged frame surround it. Framed, it is 15 inches wide and 18.5 high.

It has the composure of a stone that knows it was chosen.