Between The Lines

The majority of my efforts as an illustrator have been hindered by an overbearing left brain. Early efforts were influenced by comic artists mostly, and later, M.C. Escher. I find the best work to be that of the impressionists, whose images translate to the sense and feeling of the subject, rather than defining it.

It is the most difficult to capture - the essence of life itself. I once tried to explain this to Miss B in her work - to unfocus and draw what is not there. Whether it is line work, painting or sculpture, the work of my children, and children in general, has always seemed to capture this for me. A simplicity, the adumbration of the subject, that which non-artistic adult minds are too cluttered to see frequently.

In D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers, the artist provides this wonderful explanation as he helps an admirer understand why they like a particular work so well:

“It’s because there is scarcely any shadow in it; it’s more shimmery, as if I’d painted the shimmering protoplasm in the leaves and everywhere, and not the stiffness of the shape. That seems dead to me. Only this shimmeriness is the real living. The shape is dead crust. The shimmer is inside really.”

And thus we live between the lines, but it's OK when we color outside of them.