Drawing

Leaves

These drawings reflect a fascination with the spaces found within the intricate structures and textures of plant life. They are based on photographic studies that were used to zoom in to a point where we are not yet within the microscopic but in a realm of in-betweenness. Here one might imagine different organisms and how they negotiate a passage through the ‘wilderness’ of these plant formations. Or, perhaps one simply sees them as structures and architectural settings in drawing that offer analogies for the textures and spaces of our inner landscapes.

I have been using charcoal as sole medium or in combination with other methods in most of my drawing. Charcoal offers a wealth of possibilities because of its plasticity and opportunities to explore light and shadow through layering and erasure.

Leaves I, Leaves II and Leaves III are part of a series of drawings concerned with plants as architectural worlds. Reproductions of these drawings are included in the artists’ book ‘Of Plants and Planets’ by Deborah Gardner and Andrea Thoma.