Artist Talk September 18, 2025

I have 3 drawings in the SUPERHYPERLOCAL show:

• Foggy Day at Laguna Honda

• Golden Gate at Mile Rock Beach

• Earthquake at Ferry Plaza Farmers Market

These are part of my series “Views of San Francisco”. I started these drawings by visiting places around the city, spending time looking to form an impression of the location and sketching to get ideas for the details. I completed the work in my studio, using the sketches to make a composite of images to recreate my memory of the place and an imaginary moment in time. As the drawing evolves, it’s like solving a problem : how to fit the pieces together to create an image that can pull in the viewer.

I follow my intuition to select subjects that catch my eye. I’m fascinated by how the things I see get translated into two dimensions. The process of perception starts with looking at something and seeing it analytically. The visual image goes through my brain to my hand then into the pencil onto the paper. It unconsciously comes out looking like my style, I record the world as I see it and the abstraction that underlies it. The image is a representation of how I perceived the object. This is the essence of drawing for me.

I apply multiple thin coats of watercolor and ink wash to create depth and atmosphere. For “Foggy Day at Laguna Honda”, I used the watery quality of the medium to create a foggy effect, like a veil to filter the image and how it is perceived.

I choose objects that are associated with a place so the person looking at the drawing will perceive it as that place. For “Golden Gate at Mile Rock Beach”, shells and fish provide coastal imagery. I didn’t see these objects at the site - I drew them in the studio to create the idea of a beach.

Lines, shapes and color create contrast, tension and vibration to bring the imaginary scene to life. “Earthquake at Ferry Plaza Farmers Market” taps into a fear of earthquakes.

My work is created by building up layers. I start with pen and ink lines to form contours. This creates the underlying design and structure for the drawing. The piece I’m currently working on, called “Picnic at Mission Creek” shows this phase. I work out the design in black and white to create an abstraction of the image with shapes, patterns and composition. I add shading with ink wash to create depth. Color is added to clarify the images, create contrast and mood to draw the viewer into the scene.

I’ve been drawing for 55 years, but I still have a lot to learn.