Q: Is there a pastel painting that you are most proud of?
“She Embraced It and Grew Stronger,” soft pastel on sandpaper, 58″ x 38,” 2003
A: Without a doubt I am most proud of “She Embraced It and Grew Stronger.”
After Bryan was killed on 9/11, making art again seemed an impossibility. When he was alive I would spend weeks setting up and lighting the tableau I wanted to paint. Then Bryan would shoot two negatives using his Toyo-Omega 4 x 5 view camera. I would select one and order a 20″ x 24″ reference photo to be printed by a local photography lab.
“She Embraced It…” is the first large pastel painting that I created without using a photograph taken by Bryan. This painting proved that I had learned to use his 4 x 5 view camera to shoot the reference photographs that were (and still are) integral to my process. My life’s work could continue!
Certainly the title is autobiographical. ‘She’ in “She Embraced It and Grew Stronger” is me and ‘It’ means continuing on without Bryan and living life for both of us.
Comments are welcome!
Posted on February 20, 2016, in 2016, An Artist's Life, Creative Process, Domestic Threats, Inspiration, Pastel Painting, Working methods and tagged "She Embraced it and Grew Stronger", autobiographical, Bryan, certainly, continue, continuing, created, husband, impossible, integral, killed, learned, living, making, painting, pastel, photographs, photography, printed, process, reference, sandpaper, select, setting, Toyo-Omega, view camera, widowhood, without. Bookmark the permalink. Comments Off on Q: Is there a pastel painting that you are most proud of?.
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