Surreal Contemplation- This piece is a continuation of the themes involved in two earlier studies of the human figure (see Portrait of a Revelation I & II). The method by which this piece was created unexpectedly led me into the world of abstraction. I first rendered a complete and representational drawing of a human figure. I then cut that drawing up into a number of organic shapes and glued them onto a new piece of paper. To finish the piece, I worked over the organic shapes with a combination of pastels and a wet paintbrush. With this piece, I was suddenly more interested in creating a mood and less interested in portraying recognizable images.
Manipulation of the surface upon which pastels are applied can produce some unique results. I have experimented with actually cutting up a finished pastel drawing, gluing the cut up pieces onto a new piece of paper and then re-working the piece in an abstract style. The result produces a pastel image that demonstrates a complex level of depth and texture.
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