Technique & Approach

TECHNIQUE

When people ask me what medium I use, I want to say, “everything but the kitchen sink,” which is not strictly true. I have a method. I usually begin with a drawing in pen and ink — black ink on white paper. On separate paper I work loosely in watercolor. Then I scan both the drawing and the painting and combine them, one on top of the other, in the computer.

Of course it is more complicated than that. I make many preliminary sketches and only gradually arrive at the drawing. Once I have the drawing, I Xerox a transparency of it, which I continually lay over the painting to check their alignment. When dark areas appear too dark I use opaque paint, gouache, and also chalk. Then I scan both the drawing and the painting and load them into the computer so I can change the color of the ink and readjust the colors in the painting. If not satisfied, I start over.

APPROACH TO ART

In art school I was advised to look at Rembrandt (1606-1669) and told that, “when Rembrandt drew, he was drawing the whole time.” But looking wasn’t enough. Rembrandt’s lines seemed so inarguably self-evident, I could only make them mine by copying.

So, I copied his drawings and his etchings and tried applying what I learned about line weight and direction to simple objects. Admittedly, the exercises seemed tedious, but I grew to appreciate how much information a very few lines from a flexible pen could convey about distance, light, cast shadow, feeling, focal point, and relationship to the rest of the picture.

From Rembrandt I proceeded to the more flamboyant Rubens (1577-1640), who was almost 30 years older, and became intrigued with his use of symbolism and his Baroque glorification — glorification to the point of absurdity, I sometimes thought — of royal patrons.

In my Baroque style I use art to interpret subjects of interest to me.