Cheryl McDonald

Profile

City: San Francisco
Country: United States

Joined: Sep 2008

I tell stories,
Each pencil painting explores aspects and observations of our culture using symbolism and metaphor. These life-scapes are intuitive; they are an expression of explored ideas, dreams, thoughts, or emotions. The imagery is soft and subtle and reminiscent of a dream, like hand-colored photos that capture a moment in time. There is truth and fiction and the two may be transposed or blended, creating new realities and giving food for thought to my own consciousness as well as that of the viewer.
The processes I use to create the imagery are simple. I use pencil and paper. Each painting is made up of many layers of pencil, starting with a 2H, a very hard pencil, working my way to a 9B, a very soft pencil. The softer the pencil the darker the color, each layer adds strength and clarity to the image. There can be up to 15 layers in some areas of the drawing. Shadows become rich and have depth. Color is used as a complement and is added sometimes as the base layer in watercolor washes, and sometimes in middle layers with colored pencil, overlaid with graphite to soften and blend. Each transition of light and value leads you in to explore the possibilities of reality. I use shape and shadow and light rather than line to mold the images, adding color for emphasis.