A long time ago now, I went to art school. I majored in Jewelry Making (yes, that was my real major!), and I dabbled in collages. My collages were mostly abstract. I used ephemera, like old postcards and photographs that I found at antique stores, and I created textures with gesso and translucent bits of mica and gossamer ribbon. When I began making art again after a long pause, I wanted to draw everything and work on those long lost skills instead. In the past couple of years, I've gone back to my collage roots. And finally, this last month, I find myself back where I started after the impetus of a class. The class was Sketchbooking, through Carla Sonheim (her classes are so good!), and the teacher was Lewis Rossignol. There was something about his style that really appealed to me. And somehow, this has felt like the missing piece of bringing me back to where I started, but with more knowledge, more skills, just MORE.
Lewis's lesson on scientific drawing especially struck a chord. I've been really enjoying my houseplants this winter (another full circle for me!), and the idea of drawing them, almost like I would draw a portrait of a person, surfaced. It's another way of enjoying my plants. I get to know them intimately---the shape of their leaves, their stem arrangements, even the texture of their pots. I imagine what they might be thinking, like my poor peace lily who was on a steady decline since I bought her on a too-cold day in January 2020 (she's finally looking better). Even though these pieces seem darker and heavier than the sweet collages that I was doing, they are bringing me great joy. I'm eager to see where I'm headed next.
