What inspires my drawings

I see a quiet humanity in the forms of trees. Winter reveals their elegant network - ‘their bones’. They are delicate and quite strong, with a diversity of space between their trunks and branches. I draw them without leaves to evoke a greater connection with the human form in a very abstract way. The landscapes are spare, rendered with only the essentials needed to tell the story. Each story starts with only a felt sense, an illusion of deep space to enter. The size, shape and placement of trees and branches reveal themselves as the drawing progresses.

My treescapes are landscapes

of my mind offering a language to express humankind in gesture and relationship, echoing our fragility and strength and the distance and intimacy we choose to invite in. I draw from moments and experiences in my own life of joy and sorrow, of connection and the need to contemplate alone, of life’s uncertainty and innate mystery.

Charcoal is a medium

that gives me the freedom to leave the thinnest layer on the surface to slowly build layers to a rich darkness where desired. The glow of light within the drawing that moves beyond the paper’s edge is my visual symbol for all that is greater than ourselves and at the same time, within us.