Reflection (10" x 8", oil pastel, 2003) was my first work in oil pastel over a faint inkjet print. It happened by accident: my printer was running low on ink, and the image I was working with came out all streaky and light. I find it hard to throw anything away, so I started looking at possibilities. Previously I had used pastel pencils and watercolor over prints, but knew that those mediums wouldn't cover the streaks. There was a box of Cray-Pas lying around gathering dust; "the rest is history." This is probably the only one of my oil pastels in which I allowed the ground to show a little, mainly because the crayons were somewhat dry from age. Being admittedly compulsive about covering my tracks (brushstrokes), I switched to a creamier brand (Sennelier) and have been happily smearing and blending ever since.
For 17 years I kept my sailboat on Lake Norman, until the rent got too high and the traffic too heavy. I still hope to find quiet water somewhere again; in the meantime, there is a whole series of reflections from my lake years, waiting to be done.
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