Jennifer Cavan

My travels across and through the American countryside inform and influence my art. The subject is about an appreciation of the simple–whether it be the grace of an old adobe building melting back into the earth, a grand old barn standing guard over her fields, or a winding road leading around a bend. My work is loosely based on photographs I have taken and memories I have brought back from my travels across the country and through my state of New Mexico. I have no interest in making an exact replica of a specific location–rather I strive to capture the essence of those places. I hope to make the drawings into places people would like to visit. I am presenting the landscape rather than representing it. I start with a colored background–typical colors include burgundy, red and indigo. I work on various surfaces. I am partial to Canson Mi Teintes pastel paper (the flat side), gessoed panels and fine tooth canvases. I color these substrates using a colored gesso–Matisse Derivan background colors. Oil pastels are much like buttery crayons–and I use them that way. I generally start with a loose, light sketch to make sure I am happy with the composition (oil pastels are a little unforgiving). After I’ve blocked in most of the color (I usually work from top to bottom), I blend some of the colors using a clay shaping tool or a piece of wadded up shop cloth. I will also scratch out areas with various exacto knives to get sharper, cleaner lines. The pieces are then fixed and varnished.