I paint primarily ‘en plein air’, which is to paint "in plain air", outside on location. This work takes much focus as you have a short amount of time to see the light on objects and to make a decision as to what you would like to create. My favorite subjects to draw and paint are outside: my flower gardens and travels.

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The Pastel Garden Series was a personal challenge to get up every morning and record my flower gardens. The blooms change over the course of the morning as the morning light moves quickly. I tried to be consistent with my time of day and materials to understand the colors, textures, and light of the gardens. Pastel is a chalk material, rich and delicate, and every mark needs to have purpose.

 

Blind Contour is a style of drawing where the artist focuses on the contour, or edges of an object, and tries to draw in one continuous line without looking at the canvas. The Blind Contour pieces I create begin ‘en plein air’ with ink brushes or paint pens and are finished with acrylic paint, or Inktense pencils and blocks.

 

I love Blind Contour as it forces me to have intense focus on the subject and drawing process. This process also frees frees me from worrying about the outcome and I accept where the drawn lines are, finishing the composition wherever and however the lines appear. I will often repeat several layers of blind contour lines in different materials, or I will go back to the same subject and record the life cycle of the flower from the first bloom to the last bloom.

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