Things to Come...

I have recently found myself interested on exploring not only the value and surface details of botanical forms, but also their dimensional qualities. Sculpture and painting typically exist in separate realms of art practice and intellectual discourse. However my main subject, has physical qualities so closely related to the paper I am working on, new opportunities for discovery and experimentation. 

Thus far, croque debris celebrates spatial relationships, and the depth created by the interplay of form and cast shadows on a flat surface. What if the shapes were in fact spaces and their values determined by actual distances behind the painting surface?

 This study was done at the Catahoula Cafe in Richmond, CA during a meeting with local art and art education phenom Jerarde Gutierrez. It was my first attempt at bridging painting and sculpture through a memory-based leaf study using watercolor and my favorite cold-press paper.

With this new set of variables and the addition of the X-acto knife to my tool kit, I expect the next series of croque debris watercolors to lead to something new and exciting...

First Croque Debris exhibition in San Francisco

I am currently exhibiting my first series of croque debris small botanical watercolor paintings at the Starbucks Coffee on 2727 Mariposa (@ Bryant).

"Croque debris" translates to “debris sketch”. I coined the term in 2014 with the help of my artist friend Chantal Fournier of Quebec, Canada. This series began as a part of my semi-daily exercise routine at Mira Vista Park in Richmond, California. After my morning walk, run or workout, I would find a leaf with an interesting shape or color and commit to a 45-minute- to hour-long watercolor painting. Then, I would photograph and upload the painting to my Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram accounts with the original subject beside the painting.

Each painting teaches me something new about seeing color and detail, compositions, and finding interesting cast shadows.

I owe much of my renewed passion for painting from life to my experiences as an MFA student at the Academy of Art University. Instructors John Poon and Zhaoming Wu were instrumental
in reintroduced me to the humbling ritual of painting from life. Croque debris is a meditation on cycles of decay and renewal in the urban landscape where nature is always the better painter and a great teacher.