Beyond Layers. Tempera and pastel on board. 39 x 31
My first formal painting. In the winter of 1998 during a workshop, we were encouraged to stand in front of paper, grab a brush and start painting without any preconceived idea. With that in mind I slowly delineated the left black line and then everything else sprung from that.
Self Portrait 2001 Pencil 12 x 16
Back in Woodstock, NY, I took a class of figure drawing and painting. The teacher asked us just to draw a head. I set up a desk light and a couple of mirrors to get this light effect on my face in a dark bedroom. At the end of the course, the teacher chose this drawing for a student’s exhibit.
Crescent Moons
I was driving back home from my drawing class in Woodstock, NY, when I saw the a thin, long cloud passing in front of the moon, just like in the surrealist silent movie by Luis Buñuel, An Andalusian Dog. Later that weekend, I spent a day working on this pastel drawing. The crescent moons in the branches is a vision of my own.
Indian Gardens at Night
I was transfixed by the sight of this image when, one evening, a friend of mine showed me around the gardens of an ashram in India In January 2000, during a retreat. I came back several times to the same spot during the day and drew what became a charcoal, pencil and color pencil drawing.
The impact of the sight, the place and the time I spent in those gardens makes it one of my favorite drawings.
My Hiroshige
This is a miniature painting I made for a friend on her birthday, circa 2002.
I find a lot of inspiration from Hiroshige, the Japanese painter from the XIX century. This is a variation of “View from Massaki of Suijin Shrine”, from the book One Hundred famous Views of Edo.
Japanese Dream
In fact, I saw this image in meditation in 1999. It still intrigues me. I drew it in pencil in a sketching journal. A coworker at the time saw it and bought it.
