I love going back and forth between taking photos, drawing, and using parts of my photos in my drawings. It is what drew me to digital art in the first place. I have a very different mindset when drawing than taking photos.

Someone once asked me how I would use one of my “serious” photographs in a digital art piece, and the answer is that I wouldn’t! When I take a picture and work on the composition, the color, the content, the feeling, the editing: the art is taking place in those decisions. I don’t think of it as a successful photographic image if I want to do more than enhance the regular intent.

Drawing is a different process and a longer way of looking (looking informs my photos too, only it is expressed more instantaneously). I feel I have more control over color and composition, because I can move things around however I want to! I can add photographic elements from real life to add a touchstone to reality.

Both photography and drawing are about encouraging the viewer to move around the image to trace the fullness of the moment, but the ways I can do that are radically different and each present their own challenges..

Here is our Father’s Day lunch as seen my mind’s eye. The dappled effect of the tree on the terrace with my feeling of settling together into the afternoon. Here is our daughter unconsciously stretching into this lovely pose, contentedly basking in being here and being seen. I purposefully caught it with my camera as a reference to draw from. To me, iit contrasted our before pandemic normalcy with where we are now, as we cautiously start feeling our way back into a world where we can happily gather together. Her appraising gaze guided me was an acceptance of our resilience. Sometimes resilience is seen in the small things, such as this simple stretch on a beautiful June afternoon after a long period of isolation.