“The simple drawings and marks are thresholds through which the entire scene returns. And the words bring back the feelings felt at the time, and not conjured up through faded memories. The quality of labored-over drawings gets in the way of the need to record my responses to the things that matter when there is so little time to make a mark or write a word for what that is.”
Starting Over Coming Home #1
This is the first of three reworked paintings from a previous series.Each is 4’ x 4’ x 3”.
I resurfaced each one with a gesso mixture while at the same time preserving some of its history as another painting. These isolated areas became windows on the new image and each was framed with stitching and/or willow stems.
Earth pigments from my “home” color the paintings that now have graphite drawings, maps, calligraphic marks and stitching.
Oil Can Studies
I keep these drawings pinned to the studio wall. The subject matter is from my oil can collection. The long low one near the bottom is a silver point drawing with gold leaf powder used where the nickel colored can had brass parts. The blue and yellow one is an egg tempera glair wash and the small ones near the top are a combination of both. All are done on gesso coated paper.
Lotus Pod Drawings
These were tediously done as an assignment in a Patterns in Nature class I took a few years ago. One of them was to be using graphite alone and the other below is the exact placement but using colored pencils.
Retreat Sketchbook
This is the sketchbook I made to use when I was granted an artist retreat of two weeks in Paducah, Kentucky. I only filled the book half way with ideas and marks of my time there because I have every intention of returning. It was a most productive two weeks of thinking and making.