Oil pastel drawings, quilting and printmaking

I have been making art for 24 years. I started my career in printmaking and produced hand pulled silk-screen editions for 12 years (1978-1990). Watercolor served as my preliminary medium for color notation and compositional exploration. Through the medium of oil paint I explored the use of subtle tones of color and their ability to define form. With the traditional silkscreen stencil technique I tried to produce these color relationships by overlapping both transparent and opaque hand mixed color in my editions. This work was based on imagery that was derived from my travel experiences. In 1991 I gave up silkscreen printing and started using the silkscreen to produce monotypes with oil pastel and oil based silk-screen ink. This process is much more immediate and the images that come out of this process are more personal and have more to do with feelings. I used a technique, which is based on the idea of the fugitive resist stencil. My goal is not to produce multiple images but to produce an under ground on the paper that serves as an under painting. Through this process it is possible to produce more than one but each consecutive under painting is noticeably darker than the previous one and the process lends itself to an interesting development of series works. I am currently applying oil pastel directly on rag paper and working with acrylic paint in combination with oil pastel on canvas. I apply the oil pastel onto the surface of the paper or canvas and build up layers through a process of pushing and pulling the color around and scraping back areas to increase textural possibilities. Crystal clear is applied and colors are heightened through a lengthy process of glazing to build up forms. I have always used Holbein oil pastels and I do not combine them with any other brands or with solvents except in the application of the layers of crystal clear acrylic. When the piece is finished a final coating of crystal clear is applied for protection. Most recently in development I have been experimenting with textile crayons on fabric and textile printing processes enhanced in much the same way as my earlier monotypes. I have a great interest in the folk art tradition of quilting and the textural and sculptural possibilities of the medium and I would like to incorporate more of these elements into my work.

The strongest influence in my work over the years has been the genre and landscape scenes of the Ukiyo-e school of Japanese art. Other influences include Dutch painting from the seventeenth century, which explored the age of discovery with its emphasis on the natural world and everyday life, and fifteenth century Italian painting and its use of details observed in nature combined with the patternistic use of brilliant color. German Expressionism, Fauvism, North American Regionalism, Indian Miniatures and the philosophies of Animism have been an ongoing interest throughout my career. My compositional techniques are exercises in plastic orchestration and my best work has been drawn from memories of my personal experiences and dreams. By conjuring up these memories through meditation I am able to transport myself and tap into the primal connection that is necessary to make the leap from the literal to the symbolic.