Dogs, sheep, birds, grasses, …I draw them because they are constant and familiar in my life. I draw them to bring them to attention; to remember and recapture. To see them through a different lens. I draw them to feel what I missed when I saw them in person and let slip the moment.
It it no surprise that the dogs garner this much depth and attention, given each and everyone of my days are spent with dogs at my side in work and in companionship, but even the sheep pull strong on my curiosity and what can I say of this prairie that binds us together. This land has tugged at my heart from the moment it realized it had a human that wanted – needed – to grow here. So yes, I make artwork of them all.
It is a great fortune to experience subjects so intricately that they pull you along in the flesh and in the creative. On the flip side however, is how deeply inadequate you will feel about any portrayal, written or visual, you make of such subjects. Or how the act of drawing subjects whose being-ness is so entwined with yours will flood you with all the ways you moved through life with your mind made up and your senses closed. In creating art of the subject that has captured you, you will have to re-capture yourself and decide what to do with the humanness you find. And this re-capturing is the core artistic reason for showing up each day to create, regardless of the work getting anywhere or going nowhere.