ARTISTS STATEMENT

We remember the main events of our day but probably do not recall many of the lesser things that we experience. With a small amount of conscious observation we can see the routine of our lives punctuated by little stories. They don't need to be stressful or even involve us directly. It could be something we see for just a second. These dramas may pass observed but not realized until we make time to think about what we did or saw that day.

I may not recognize I've seen a future painting unless I recall my day and if I fail to record it as a sketch within a day or two, it is lost. Occasionally, I will know immediately that I must paint what I have witnessed making visual mental notes. A "grand mal" event happens when I have drawing materials at hand and sketch as the act unfolds. Why I choose one subject over another, I suspect, is a result of some inner sense of pathos I don't fully understand. It may be a purely visceral reaction to life's slightly mad scenarios.

My aim as an artist is to render these observations as truthfully as my abilities will allow. Each painting is a struggle between my original vision and my skills as an artist to capture a moment. I often think the real art occurs at that instant of recognition before craft has an opportunity to put its own interpretation into play.

Each man must seek for himself the people who hold the essential beauty, and each man must eventually say to himself as I do, "these are my people and all that I have I owe to them". Robert Henri

ABOUT THE MEDIUM

Pastels are made almost entirely of pigment, the very essence of color. A binder of gum or water is added to pigment to hold them in a solid shape, generaly a cylinder from 3/8" to 1/2" wide and 2" to 3" long depending on brand.

A quality unique to pastel is its crystalline nature. Pastels ability to subtly reflect light produces a luminosity unavailable to any other medium. All pigments are subject to change in color due to exposure to light. Because the pastel medium has no issues with the solvents used in oil paintings, a pastel painting will withstand the rigors of time gracefully.

Most applications of pastel begin with a drawing motion mixing strokes of varying thickness and direction. Individual colors may be layered and blended with a brush or fingertips. Water or solvent washes may also be used. Pastels are also available in tins for brush application of dry pigment.

The pastel itself adheres to the toothy surface of the paper or canvas. Rougher papers similar in texture to sandpaper will allow layers of dozens of colors. Rigid panels coated with a gritty primer are also used.

Some artists will apply an aerosol fixative to protect the artwork. Other prefer not as the fixative often changes the colors slightly. Because the work remains delicate, almost all pastel works are mounted under glass.

In the formal art world, pastels are considered paintings and are judged as such. The medium of pastels negates the distinction between drawing and painting.

Pastels enjoyed a particular popularity in the 1700's which continued into the next century. Artists such as Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas produced important pastel paintings during this period. The pastel medium has enjoyed a renaissance in the past 30 years evidenced by the growth in numbers of artists working in the medium. The size and quantity of artists organizations devoted to pastel has also multiplied.

After a few years of oil painting in the 1980's, my preferred mediums became very line oriented. I used pen and ink colored with watercolor and following this came colored pencil works. This progression towards a less technical medium, I believe, helped me to focus more on content and composition.

While camping in 2005, I packed a small kit of very hard pastels and wandered over to the lakeshore to see what I could do with these untried sticks. Seeing what those first strokes of color looked like on black paper was like being struck by lightning. I knew I had to pursue this and I was soon doing fully developed paintings again with more luminosity and true color than I had ever experienced using oils, with no chemicals, messy clean up or drying times to consider. I can work on a painting an hour or a year later and it remains the same. I do enjoy the tactile nature of pastel, applying color not with brushes or tools but with my own fingers. The fragile nature of pastel is also interesting to me.