WORKS ON PAPER

Black & White Drawings, 1988 - ongoing TThis series of hundreds of small 11” x 11” works on paper was begun in 1988 and continues to this day. This work has been formative. I have found the visual simplicity, the subdued palette, the images and formats for all the work I make in these drawings. The process is slow. Each drawing has 3 to 12 layers of oil stick over a randomly coloured ground layer of oil pastel. Each oil stick layer takes 3 days to dry. When I make these works I always make several at once, thus they tend to relate to one another. The imagery comes from thumbnails from life, worked, reworked and simplified. I use homemade stencils and draw with everything from flathead screwdrivers to knitting needles, and occasionally incorporate photocopies and stitching with thread.  

Black & White Series, 1988 oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 22" x 11"

Black & White Series,  oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 22" x 11"

Black & White Series, oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 11" x 11"

Black & White Series, oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 11" x 11"

Black & White Series, oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 11" x 11"

Black & White Series, oil pastel, oil stick, photocopy, thread, rag paper, 11" x 11"

Black & White Series, oil pastel, oil stick, photocopy, thread, rag paper, 11" x 11"

Black & White Series, oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 11" x 11"

Black & White Series, oil pastel, oil stick, thread, rag paper, 11" x 11"

Black & White Series, oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 11" x 11"

White & Black Series, oil pastel, oil stick, thread, rag paper, 11" x 11"

Black & White Series, oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 11" x 11"

Black & White Series, oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 11" x 11"

White & Black Series, oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 11" x 11"

Black & White Series, oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 11" x 11"

White & Black Series, oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 11" x 11"

Black & White Series, oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 11" x 11"

Black & White Series, oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 11" x 11"

White & Black Series, oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 11" x 11"

Black & White Series, oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 11" x 11"

Black & White Series, oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 11" x 11"

Black & White Series, oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 11" x 11"

Black & White Series, oil pastel, oil stick, rag paper, 11" x 11"