Lost and Found,

Lost and Found   conte and pastel on Rives BFK   18 x 21.5

picking and sorting, organizing....the stuff of which my life is comprised...constant evaluation:  weeds vs. flowers; healthy relationships vs. the toxic; and that which we deem necessary vs. that which just takes up space.  It is, I think, a perpetual process that helps us find ourselves.

This drawing was referenced from a photo shot last September at a family wedding, where our granddaughter, just two, was given the responsibility of being a flower girl.  During the long wait, she dropped the basket a couple of times, and patiently replaced the petals into the basket.  She took this job quite seriously.

The biggest challenge during this work was to push and pull those hard and soft edges for the purpose of movement throughout the composition.  This is a process that I particularly enjoy, along with a manipulation and shifting of values in an attempt to create work with strong design, while remaining soft.

Initially, I had planned only a light sketch.  The project morphed into a more complete painting-like drawing, in which the Rives BFK (a printmaking paper) was pushed as far as it could go in terms of workability.

I take my job quite seriously as well.