drawing on history
Creating is as necessary as breath. Daily art practice is essential. My inspirations are nature, literature, history, music, science and art. Especially from earlier centuries where technology as we know it was nonexistent. The making of illuminated manuscripts, daguerreotypes, pigments from minerals and plants, scientific illustrations, glass models from blown glass... That primal connection of the eye, hand and spirit to make a creative expression.
In 2011, my passion for vintage photos, the spark of an idea, and access to an unusually large number of images, created the right conditions for an on-going body of work I call “Drawing on History”. The initial concept was to work in color on black and white portraits. But as in all journeys, creative and otherwise, I find it best to go with my intuition. I began making black ink drawings on the photos.
Books have inspired and enriched from the moment I could read. In “Drawing on History”,
certain images bring to mind and are manifestations of titles or lines from books.
“Portrait of a Lady”, “Metamorphosis”, “The House of Mirth” and “Go Ask Alice”
are all references to favorite books and authors.
Sometimes the book inspires and sometimes the image. The process
of creating a piece begins with a silent inquiry with the image in that frozen moment.
The drawing experience is like a jazz improvisation in ink or paint. I stop when the connection ends.
It can be one long dialogue, or, “conversations” over time, before the piece is complete.
An intimacy develops with the images that creates a palpable bond that I re-experience looking at them, much like the feeling when meeting old friends.
Each piece is an intimate extension of a story from lost time, tempted into a new existence today.
drawing on history
Creating is as necessary as breath. Daily art practice is essential. My inspirations are nature, literature, history, music, science and art. Especially from earlier centuries where technology as we know it was nonexistent. The making of illuminated manuscripts, daguerreotypes, pigments from minerals and plants, scientific illustrations, glass models from blown glass... That primal connection of the eye, hand and spirit to make a creative expression.
In 2011, my passion for vintage photos, the spark of an idea, and access to an unusually large number of images, created the right conditions for an on-going body of work I call “Drawing on History”. The initial concept was to work in color on black and white portraits. But as in all journeys, creative and otherwise, I find it best to go with my intuition. I began making black ink drawings on the photos.
Books have inspired and enriched from the moment I could read. In “Drawing on History”,
certain images bring to mind and are manifestations of titles or lines from books.
“Portrait of a Lady”, “Metamorphosis”, “The House of Mirth” and “Go Ask Alice”
are all references to favorite books and authors.
Sometimes the book inspires and sometimes the image. The process
of creating a piece begins with a silent inquiry with the image in that frozen moment.
The drawing experience is like a jazz improvisation in ink or paint. I stop when the connection ends.
It can be one long dialogue, or, “conversations” over time, before the piece is complete.
An intimacy develops with the images that creates a palpable bond that I re-experience looking at them, much like the feeling when meeting old friends.
Each piece is an intimate extension of a story from lost time, tempted into a new existence today.