Drawings
Conte crayon painted with gesso on paper
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Artist's Statement:
My body of drawings resulted from intense visual observations made directly from the still life motif. It fascinates me to study how physically one’s eyes can only focus on a certain space in nature at one time and then how the planes shift as the eyes refocus onto a new area. In some of the compositions I place my own reflected image amongst the still life set-ups. My reflected human form reinforces my presence to the viewer. These drawings give my interpretation of the multiple shifts in visual space that I perceive from my perspective.
I often leave my drawings with varying layers of visible underlying marks. These marks give the viewer an indication of part of the process that goes into the work. I first approach my still life very slowly, visually cropping as I study the motif. I may come in close and look down. Or I may simply back up and move two feet to the left or right and I have a whole new point of view. I mark the floor with masking tape once I have decided upon a composition in order to maintain my exact perspective. I place my drawing board a few feet away from me and start into each work by drawing with a black Conte crayon. Standing on my marked tape position, I study my motif, and then walk up quickly to the drawing board. I make my marks with the Conte crayon and then get back again to the marked position. Back and forth…working fast…it’s almost like a dance. It keeps my body physically engaged, my thoughts focused as I respond to the image as it develops on the paper’s surface.
Next, I use thinned white acrylic gesso as a somewhat transparent application and paint directly into the drawing. I use it in a subtractive manner to push some of my marks back from the picture plane. The gesso also dissolves some of the Conte crayon marks creating varying tones. It dries quickly and I go back into the drawing with Conte crayon and re-establish the forms. I continue this process of going back and forth, adding and subtracting until the drawing feels near completion. I finish by using undiluted acrylic white gesso as an opaque medium to establish areas that I want to feel ‘bathed’ in light.
My images may appear to be still and quiet but one is more than simply a spectator of inanimate objects. It is my desire to share my visual experiences by placing the viewer within my immediate personal perspectives. I aspire to convey within my still lifes a subtle quality of mystique within a luminous environment.
Select an image. Click on it to enlarge. Click again on the image to return
Artist's Statement:
My body of drawings resulted from intense visual observations made directly from the still life motif. It fascinates me to study how physically one’s eyes can only focus on a certain space in nature at one time and then how the planes shift as the eyes refocus onto a new area. In some of the compositions I place my own reflected image amongst the still life set-ups. My reflected human form reinforces my presence to the viewer. These drawings give my interpretation of the multiple shifts in visual space that I perceive from my perspective.
I often leave my drawings with varying layers of visible underlying marks. These marks give the viewer an indication of part of the process that goes into the work. I first approach my still life very slowly, visually cropping as I study the motif. I may come in close and look down. Or I may simply back up and move two feet to the left or right and I have a whole new point of view. I mark the floor with masking tape once I have decided upon a composition in order to maintain my exact perspective. I place my drawing board a few feet away from me and start into each work by drawing with a black Conte crayon. Standing on my marked tape position, I study my motif, and then walk up quickly to the drawing board. I make my marks with the Conte crayon and then get back again to the marked position. Back and forth…working fast…it’s almost like a dance. It keeps my body physically engaged, my thoughts focused as I respond to the image as it develops on the paper’s surface.
Next, I use thinned white acrylic gesso as a somewhat transparent application and paint directly into the drawing. I use it in a subtractive manner to push some of my marks back from the picture plane. The gesso also dissolves some of the Conte crayon marks creating varying tones. It dries quickly and I go back into the drawing with Conte crayon and re-establish the forms. I continue this process of going back and forth, adding and subtracting until the drawing feels near completion. I finish by using undiluted acrylic white gesso as an opaque medium to establish areas that I want to feel ‘bathed’ in light.
My images may appear to be still and quiet but one is more than simply a spectator of inanimate objects. It is my desire to share my visual experiences by placing the viewer within my immediate personal perspectives. I aspire to convey within my still lifes a subtle quality of mystique within a luminous environment.
