Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
A return to texture, light, and the exuberance of early influence
In Croton Plant (1987) I found myself circling back to an earlier fascination — how a textured surface can change the emotional temperature of light and color. Working in oil pastel let me lean into that idea fully. The cross‑hatched strokes, laid down in quick, energetic layers, were a deliberate nod to the Impressionist language I absorbed in my youth studying Claude Monet. Pastels gave me a way to let light feel active, almost vibrating across the page.
The scene itself is intimate: a croton houseplant positioned between a cushioned chair and the lower edge of a piano. The bright window light behind the plant pushes through the variegated leaves, igniting their reds, greens, and yellows. That backlight casts a sharp, bright shadow beside the flowerpot, while the floor on the opposite side cools into blues — a classic Impressionist interplay where light determines color, not the other way around.
I wanted the drawing to feel like a moment suspended between domestic calm and visual excitement. The croton becomes a prism for the room’s atmosphere: warm where the sun hits, cool where the light falls away, and always alive with the textured movement of pastel.
Dimensions: 22×30″
Medium: Oil pastels
A return to texture, light, and the exuberance of early influence
In Croton Plant (1987) I found myself circling back to an earlier fascination — how a textured surface can change the emotional temperature of light and color. Working in oil pastel let me lean into that idea fully. The cross‑hatched strokes, laid down in quick, energetic layers, were a deliberate nod to the Impressionist language I absorbed in my youth studying Claude Monet. Pastels gave me a way to let light feel active, almost vibrating across the page.
The scene itself is intimate: a croton houseplant positioned between a cushioned chair and the lower edge of a piano. The bright window light behind the plant pushes through the variegated leaves, igniting their reds, greens, and yellows. That backlight casts a sharp, bright shadow beside the flowerpot, while the floor on the opposite side cools into blues — a classic Impressionist interplay where light determines color, not the other way around.
I wanted the drawing to feel like a moment suspended between domestic calm and visual excitement. The croton becomes a prism for the room’s atmosphere: warm where the sun hits, cool where the light falls away, and always alive with the textured movement of pastel.
Dimensions: 22×30″
Medium: Oil pastels