The work began with a huge box of used pastels bought at auction by my Uncle Sam in the mid-1970s. The box sat in my study for years. I had been painting very large acrylic landscapes, bigger than I am. I always enjoyed working “en plein air,” but the size was inconvenient in the wind. All this, however, became irrelevant when I went to grad school and began teaching. Then in 2000 I had a sabbatical and decided I wanted to try out Uncle Sam’s pastels in Central Park. I put the box on wheels, and bought some 9 x12” sketchpads. And I had a blast! I was using the pastels the way I used paint, layer upon layer of color.
I had always enjoyed writing (I have published several books and a couple of dozen articles), and I assumed that when I retired from teaching, I would have more time for research and writing. But it soon became clear that painting was more immediately pleasurable.
As you look at my work, you will see that plainly I am more interested in surface than subject matter. I begin with something I see that I like, then consider the geometry of the site. I sometimes work on an image after I leave the location or when I move on to another site, adding “grace notes” or perhaps something interesting I see at the new site. Yet I can spend hours looking for locations that interest me. Walking up and down hills in the North Woods of Central Park or around the lake in the Bois de Vincennes, or communing with the plantings in a local garden. The more I painted, the more I realized that I wanted to be more portable. So I put aside Uncle Sam’s box and began using pastel pencils and smaller sketchbooks. Off with the wheels and into a backpack. Much to my surprise the diminished size lost none of the largeness.
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