brettonarts

Profile

Joined: Dec 2007

Debra Bretton Robinson,
artist statement

I am primarily an acrylics painter and collage artist. Still to this day always sketch in colored pencil to begin a piece whether it be in acrylics, collage or watercolors. I begin every piece with a colored pencil sketch and use it for inspiration, close to my canvas or collage work space . Usually my subject matter is an under appreciated cityscape. I notice them everywhere. I work with a sharp pair of scissors when collaging. For glue I prefer gel medium for its flat drying qualities. I use colored or patterned papers to “paint” with. One of the reasons I enjoy working with collage is because it is so immediate. If a sequence of colors or patterns is not working, another can instantly be inserted.
However, what I learn from working in collage can also be translated into acrylic paint. I like thinking flat. If a painting gets too flat even for me, I use patterning that I borrow from the collage medium. They are nterchangeable for me. I don’t think I would be happy working in only one medium. Sometimes I create the exact same scene in both acrylics and collage to see where else I can push my ideas. The end result always surprises me. Both come out looking so different but to me, they retain the same essence. For my viewers, I always have to point out that they are the same scene.
My other main subject matter is portraits. I draw them wherever I go. I go where people are going to hang around in one place for more than 10 minutes. I find people are captive at meetings, restaurants, and flea markets, on the bus or subway, waiting at the airport or the dentist’s office. Again I use flat colors mostly and a patterning of colors. Most of my subjects don’t know they are being drawn. Some get hostile or unwilling when they discover me capturing them from my mind’s eye on the paper. Usually they don’t like what I have zoned in on about them. Almost always these sketches end up as acrylic paintings.
In addition, this summer I traveled to Monhegan Island in Maine at long last. Along with another artist friend, Kathy Cooper, we painted almost every waking minute of our stay there. It was an amazing place where I found peace and community along with endless painting opportunities. I have included several of these paintings in this exhibition today. As most of these began with a watercolor sketch, I still have many more paintings to transform into acrylics. If interested, ask me to show my watercolor sketches to learn about my artistic process.