about the works

We all carry around the weird and wonderful things we’ve come across while doing our work and living our lives. These mental scrapbooks form our tastes, and our tastes influence our work. ---Jane Austin 

We usually see unconsciously, but practicing observation is more than seeing. That’s how I think about these images. That I have a good visual memory is significant to why I make them. Books, sketches, my photographs of home and travel, print materials like magazines, postcards, labels, even scraps of my work become raw materials I’ve accumulated over time. I couldn’t have made this work until now. I cut and build and paste them until they mean something visually, in design and content. That product becomes inspiration for my drawings and painting. 

I work these on archival, heavy watercolor paper and generally use watercolors as the first layer of information. Inks, acrylics, conte sticks and graphite, oil pastels, color pencils follow, depending on what works best to get the image I desire. I’m a little irreverent about mixing up fine art materials, though I do use archival practices. That way, they’ll last a long time without fading. 

The graphics tablet does not suddenly make you an incredible artist nor give you all the practice you need to be good at drawing, it is simply yet another way to pour your creativity out into the world.—Anonymous, Quorum.

I bought my first iPad in 2011 while I was laid up for a few weeks. My other body of work took so much time that I needed a distraction. It was eye opening. That distraction turned into a long term love affair with a process where changes can be made quickly and variations on a theme are possible instantaneously. The digital images incorporate layers of abstract textures, shapes, and lines, with subtle and vivid colors that create drama or playfulness. Ten years later, it’s become just as important to me as working on paper or canvas. It still delights me.

The new Photomontage series are also created digitally. They are similar to the works on paper, but created with a different tool. The digital process provides the same experience and content, visually enhanced and technically achieved using a new tool. There is more of a narrative in these, but it’s up to the viewer to decide what their story is. All the digital imagery can be printed in a variety of sizes on archival paper or canvas, with archival inks. 

All are created using Sketchbook by Autodesk or Procreate.