Drawing Studies for the "Little Cottonwood Canyon Painting Series" I received a grant supported by Alta Community Enrichment to create a 5 large scale paintings during 2020. Some of the drawing might suggest some of the turmoil during this time of the Covid Lockdown.
This collection of drawings came from my experience traveling to Mexico City in 2019. This was one of my favorite cities to visit. The experience out of this world. The sweat lodge ceremony of the Temazcal, the Aztec dancers and pyramids and Templo Mayor with sacrificial stones for Heart Extraction Ceremony.
This collection of drawings is from my travels to Japan. The Buddhist Temples and Architecture really captivated my attention. Japan is one of my favorite places to visit! I was intrigued with the pet cemetery and the shines in honor of family pets.
My time in the Caribbean on the Island of St Lucia, was spent mesmerized by the waters and the beautiful patterns of the palm fronds. St. Lucia is a magical place full of enchanting scenery and culture. These drawings are from a collection I made during a trip to this beautiful island. The local rum shacks were spent pouring local spirits on my bleeding wounds.
The western united states is a geological splendor. I have countless of drawings from my day living in Utah and travelling to the south in the Capital Reef Region to Hiking in the Wasatch Mountains and visiting my sister up in Jackson Wyoming. I am never tired of what the western landscape offers. I am grateful to having the opportunity to witness such beautiful country in its stillness and beauty.
My first travels to New York City I stayed in Coney Island. I loved the boardwalk and the energy of the Ocean and City that seemed to spin me around in a dizzying pirouette. Manhattan was monumental and sent me soaring vertically. The collection of drawings from this first trip was all over the place from underground drawings riding on the subway to rooftop vistas.
I love the pen and ink style. The bold graphic mark making that is sharp and direct. I have collections of drawing of my own collection of heirlooms and still-lifes that kept me company. Some of these still-lifes are meaningful found objects close to my heart. Rocks that were found in special places that hold a certain power that sit on a altar that memorializes my kin and timeless memories that comfort me. Throughout our lives we collect things and some of them follow us where we go and sometimes I feel the need to pay homage to the things that keep with us.
I love this unique sketchbook given to me from my sister. I gave me the opportunities to expand in panorama views while including drawings above and below. I spent a lot of time drawing the pacific ocean in this sketchbook while on Santa Rosa Island in the Channel Islands National Park. The time spent drawing on this island gave me new appreciation of the California Coast.
My time in Krakow Poland was spent walking around the old town visiting the amazing collection of churches. I found the collections of drawings of my time in Poland was the peaceful spaces of these churches where I would attempt to draw the intricate ceremonial details that were meant to lift people spiritually. The collection of drawing from Poland covers that vast terrain of Mountain, Amber Coast and the Sublime Architecture to the grotesque concentration camps.
My collection of Drawings from my hometown of Detroit mostly focuses on my relationship with the Waters. Detroit is a fresh water port city that includes some of the most beautiful awe inspiring islands. When people think of Detroit mainly they think of its urban setting, the motorcity or motown. All of these are incredible inspiring and give Detroit's its character and charm but the River or more specifically the strait that joins Lake St Clair to Lake Erie has a magic of its own that goes unnoticed to most of the people besides the fisherman that inhabit the Detroit metro area. Detroit has been a cultural hub because of these waters. It has a current that keeps moving and with that it is alway changing and bringing in new and beautiful things.
The pen and ink process gives me the opportunity to explore overlays of transparent colors. I am able to play with watercolor and transparent color pencils that add to the drawings. My collection of figure studies focuses on the human form but seeks to include the forms in a particular space. The spaces humans inhabit are becoming less physical in the sense that our bodies are fixed in a certain place and more about how our minds inhabit virtual and remote digital artificial places. I am alway intrigued with the human form and becoming more so of the psychological spaces our minds find themselves in whether it is trapped on it own free will, or escaping a burnout life or blissfully seduced to be removed from the physical spaces we inhabit.