Only they could evoke the true emotion you see in each piece. I wanted to paint real people with real faces. My subjects came from early Western and Indian photographers, mostly throughout the 1890’s. If you look closely, the eyes will follow you across the room! I try to capture the eyes in each of my portraits. You can see a story in each face – it’s really in their eyes. I chose this subject because I saw character and a deep soulful feeling in their faces. For many years, my subject matter was the Native American Indian. Over the years, I’ve created my own techniques to achieve the detail I want. I liked the process of these two mediums…you can blend, layer, and create depth, developing a kind of softness you can’t achieve with paint. Three separate steps! At that time, I decided to just pursue charcoal and colored pastels. I realized I was drawing the subject two separate times and then painting it. We then had to paint over it in translucent layers of oil or acrylic, leaving the charcoal to bleed through, giving it depth. I was taking a painting and drawing class where we were required to draw a subject in charcoal in complete detail then transfer it to canvas in complete detail. Inspiration for charcoal and pastels started in the 1980’s.

Paint donet