Drawing
Drawing has been one of the most challenging media for me to learn, as it requires a strong technical foundation and highly intentional mark-making. It pushes me to slow down, observe more closely, and translate what I see with precision. My drawings often explore value and texture, capturing landscapes and still lifes through a variety of subjects, including hands, trees, and telephone poles. Some pieces are focused technical studies, while others lean into more conceptual territory, using drawing as a way to explore mood or memory. Taken together, these works reflect my evolving relationship with observation and interpretation, and ultimately, they serve to capture and communicate my unique perspective on the world around me.
Still Lifes
Rendered in charcoal, these still lifes are created solely from observation, rendering line from visible shape to form 3D-looking objects. In several, I took a reductive approach by layering up a base middle value, then adding in darks with charcoal and adding in lights with an eraser. These drawings were made in one sitting with controlled lighting and staged props, making this work more technique focused.
2-Point Perspective
These perspective drawings are light-hearted works capturing the built environment around me. A departure from detailed technique, these pieces focus on line direction, working to lead the viewer deeper into the piece through a collection of long converging lines and planes. These were made from charcoal and white chalk pastel with proportions and use of negative space to illustrate the eye level of the viewer.
Fabric
These pieces explore layering up values to create texture. Much of my work focuses on texture rendered through value and material, but to capture the unique types of cloth shown, texture had to be developed with more detail and intention. These pieces are made with charcoal and display thick, thin, and fuzzy fabric in a studio setting.
Hands
As any artist will tell you, hands are notoriously challenging to draw. Instead of avoiding them, I chose to create a portfolio studying them. The added challenge with these pieces is that I used my own hand for reference. I am a messy artist, and I like using both hands while I work, so this was definitely an adjustment. To investigate different forms, I held different natural objects, tying this work in with much of my other work. These drawings are made in a similar way to the previous work with charcoal wash and an eraser for bright whites.
Trees
In my work, I have found myself strongly drawn to nature. With drawing and painting, I find myself exploring trees, both concretely and abstractly. My fascination with trees comes from me wanting to capture the gesture of a tree, drawing the feeling of a tree without spending the countless hours needed to render every single branch. My work here spans from detail work in pencil to more gestural impressionist work in charcoal. The main focus of my work with trees is on adding depth to branches and leaves/needles by using highlights, shadow, and scale.
Telephone Poles
This is perhaps my favorite body of work, and constitutes my final drawing portfolio (to date). This work brings together many themes I explore in other works including clash of man-made and nature, gesture and detail, and texture through line vs. texture through value. These are drawn in two parts. First, I captured the scene on-site with a gestural back-drawing. Then, I took reference photos and added details back in the studio. This two-step approach allowed me to capture the feeling of being there looking up at these poles, while also being able to go in with detail work and perfect texture. The leading lines of the wires captivate me, and the breadth of texture from glass to wood to metal offered playful variation.
