before i started trying to paint the high desert of new mexico, i was dramatically inspired by a short weekend trip to santa fe two years ago. i took a ton of pictures in those 3 days and created a whole series of drawings from them. i loved the sharp blue sky and the subtle compliments of yellow and orange on the ground and in the rocks. i loved the movement of the rock formations at tent rocks. and i loved the puffy clouds.
somewhere in doing a sketch of one of my photos, i came up with an image that played on my abstract style of blocking off a space on a white stretch of paper and giving it a hard edge, like a window. i let it be more loose and did not use a ruler to draw the lines. i marked a few places and connected the dots. then on the inside i boldy layed down my graphite lines and filled them in with my nupastel sticks. i mixed and smudged and smoothed and then went over the lines again. i ended up with a piece that could almost look like a photo from a distance, but when you got closer you could see the detail of the lines and the texture of the pastels. it was so striking i had to continue.
i sold a large piece at the WVWC art faculty show and i had a duel show with another professor at Fairmont State. the pieces were a hit...but not so much to those in the east. it was alien to them and the big skies and vulnerable spaces are scarey to some people. i'm hoping that here in new mexico they will be more accepted. i've had a few of them framed and i love the way they look. i plan to continue drawing as well as painting and hoping to eventually show both styles in a gallery or few.
