Meghan Sullivan

My artistic practice is rooted in representational drawing. I have consistently been interested in working with subject matter where our feelings can be felt by me and my audience. This body of work involves drawing portraits of myself or another person. Through the act of drawing the portraits - I am interested what can be communicated that words cannot.

 

My work is presently reflective of my interest in simple proportion and shading.  One of the things I strive for with the human form is proportional accuracy.  I strive to bring it to life on paper with a range of values from light source and color. Artists I have found inspirational are:  Sidney Goodman, Toulouse Lautrec, and contemporary artist, William Bailey.  The line works to these artist’s drawings I find fascinating and their use of bold and thin lines to draw out their figures. 

 

I am interested in modeled the contour emphasizing light source and its transition into the ground.  Once contours and light sources, have been established, I may work back into the piece defining details, hair and folds in clothing.  I also add information to the musculature of the figure, placing lights and darks, shading where it is darkest, while also building the ground values and shapes.  My drawings are not highly rendered, but do contain a level of accuracy of detail, feeling, and form.

 

Through these portraits, I hope to evoke a sense of emotion from my viewer, the most basic of human feeling.  My hope with these drawings is to bring awareness to the masks that we use to hide the feelings of emotion sadness and depression.  Through drawing these portraits, I strive to convey these moments we all find ourselves in, even if we try to hide these feelings