Drawing

Drawing and Illustration is where I first began. It is the foundation of my practice, of my art, the very roots from which everything else shoots from. I realised some years ago that my style of working and the resulting artwork often shifts quite drastically from medium to medium. My graphite and pencil work always leaned into realism; they were quiet, contemplative, with smooth tonal work and fine detail. Conversely, my charcoals were messy, loud, and heavy things that yearned to be larger and larger.

The charcoals will one day consume me entirely.

HUSK

Series 2023

OBLIVION

OVERWHELMED

DREAD

OBSESSION

UNEASE

Combinations of : PAPER, COMPRESSED CHARCOAL, WILLOW CHARCOAL, GOLD FOIL, ACRYLIC PAINT, WHITE PASTEL

Every work in the HUSK series, was sketched out on my hands and knees on the floor of my living room, at times when I needed an outlet during overwhelming anxious and depressive episodes. I would roll out a new sheet of paper, bring out the material I found expressed the raw emotion best, and throw my whole body into making strokes on the page. I would not stop until the work was complete – the overwhelming emotion finally shed, and a new skin of dark charcoal had grown around me. With blackened hands covered in powdered shadow, I would finally stand and gaze upon my reflection on the page. A manifestation of my fears, my stress, staring back at me.

And then,

I would hang it on my wall,

And live amongst it,

Every,

Single,

Day.

And somehow, someway, it made it all a little more bearable.

UNTITLED

2025

PAPER, COMPRESSED CHARCOAL, WILLOW CHARCOAL

Charcoal on paper, wood encountering wood, one light one dark, to develop a stark dance of stokes that accumulate into a scene. A glimpse of life cursed by interesting times, of a twining quarrel between triumph and anguish, hope and sorrow, interwoven infinitely – the eternal cycle of seeking, and taking, and losing.

I leave this work unnamed as naming it would set its meaning, as would mounting it on a wall. To hang it would be to decide on a right side up, and therefore a wrong side, and in this scene there are none – but depending on from what side you approach, and look over and upon it, can change its reading.

And so below you it should sit, with you the watchful god, observing the unending folly.

DRAWINGDRAWINGDRAWINGDRAWING