T H O U G H T S
The figure has always been my focus, and over the years it's become a psychological focus, a not-always-easy-to-view focus.
I feel an artist finds out what they have to say by doing. It is discovered during the working process, being open to glimpses, fearlessly accepting whatever happens no matter what.
Get angry with yourself, be desperate. Go to a deeper level within where your truth resides, where things feel right. Use materials that feel natural, that allow you to play.
Art for me must have a serious and profound underpinning, always poignant, often humorous, relating in some way to the universal humanity common to all of us.
N O T E S on the different series
My breakthrough work began in 2002 with my 40" PASTEL PAINTINGS, resulting in the large 80" PASTEL PAINTINGS from 2005-2008. Working horizontally, I completely wet the large sheet of paper and worked from the nude model with compressed pastel, which, when wet, is very intense, thick, spontaneous, uncontrollable and sensuous. I could not be clean or accurate, but I could wash out and put in new heads and figures as often as needed until something unexpected happened. By this process a world peopled with unusual characters emerged. I discovered a form of psychological realism, a commentary on the human condition and interrelationships. It's the psychological aspect that interests me, and I believe the viewer responds to. It sucks them in and keeps them there, sometimes uncomfortably so.
LITTLE PEOPLE
Next came my large LITTLE PEOPLE series from 2009. Always fighting the impulse to be "correct" when facing the figure, I playfully made the heads large using pink ink and the bodies small using pastel. Adorable and mysterious, I haven't a clue where they came from.
SINGLE FIGURES
The latest large series is the SINGLE FIGURES from 2011-2012. This body of work is more figurative but has a new raw edge.
PINK INKS
Parallel with these large works came my small, intimate PINK INKS, which are joyful, poignant moments, often funny, often off-putting. Ongoing since 2004, they just happen, with subtle changes over time. The work continues to the present: never planned, allowed to happen, always a surprise. And in 2015, out of the blue, I began to use acetate layers and the pink heads happened with masks and ultimately skulls. This work is on interchangeable layers of acetate paper.
WOOD PANEL PAINTINGS
These started in 2015. They began with ink on the panels, then collages on the panels, and then a combination of the acetate pink inks and the acetate skulls and paint on the wood panels. This is my most recent work. I was given a second day a week to work with a model, and the room being small, I had to work small, so in 2015 I bought clayboard wood panels to play on with my pink inks resulting in the INK ON WOOD PANELS. Such fun! Very immediate, hit or miss, good or bad. Then came the APPROPRIATING MYSELF series in 2017, using heads from my 80" Pastel Paintings, gluing them onto the clayboards and over-painting with oil. And in 2020, because of the pandemic and being home, I began to paint the panels black and put white oil on top to scratch into with a palette knife. I also added torn up pieces from old pink drawings to the oil and continued scratching, resulting in the QUARANTINE WHITES. Next came the acetate skulls glued to the panels, the latest with nails and tacks, all part of the QUARANTINE SKULLS. These are all done in my studio.
Of course at all times the pieces must compositionally and structurally work, which takes hours of looking and thinking and reworking, many more hours than any spontaneous impulse, but is equally necessary.
Up until the wood panels, my media remained the same since 2002 when I feel my mature work began. I've used ink and pastels all this time. The heavy bodied, acrylic based ink is red earth colored, like blood, and the hard pastels melted in water is lush, like paint. My technique allowed me to change anything at any time forever. Even an ink line could be made narrower with a razor blade.