"Old Friends/New Work"

Drawing is relatively new for me. Actually, I have always drawn, mostly for note-taking and designing, but drawing as the main means of expression is new. After a short workshop in January, 2009, I flirted with it, still feeling as if it were a foreign language and I could only say please and thank you. But then in November and December of 2009, I used my time at a residency in Vallauris, France to concentrate on drawing and began to feel the thrill of speaking in whole sentences.

This summer, after taking a class at Haystack, I feel as if I am fluent. I am beginning to think in Drawing as one might think in French or Japanese. It allows a new means of expression and a more immediate and direct response to the world around me. New materials...charcoal, paper, oil stick, wax, ink, shellac...offer a different set of aesthetic choices to add to my vocabulary.

And I am just beginning to explore what it is I want to say with the possibilities. As always, I come back to nature, the most eloquent of subjects. Coiled forms still play a role and I imagine that will continue.

About the friendship with Tom

Tom and I have known each other for 11 or 12 years. We met when I rented studio space at East End Studios. His was the door directly at the top of the stairs on the second floor and mine was two steps to the right. I tapped on his door after a few days of occupancy to introduce myself and he asked me in for coffee. That began a friendship that has been very important to me and, I believe, to him.

Though he no longer occupies the studio next to mine, we meet often to talk about our work and our lives. His deep knowledge of art and artists and his commitment to his work have been inspiring. We have similar points of view about our aesthetics and what we value in our work. But most of all it is his passion about art that continues to lead me or maybe I should say, "to push me."

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