(Afghan Girl) A photograph taken by Steve McCurry appeared on the front cover of National Geographic Magazine in June of 1985, and soon began to receive worldwide attention. It featured a beautiful Afghan girl from a refugee camp in Pakistan, with a torn red scarf draped loosely around herhead. This anonymous young woman became the inspiration for my artwork. When I first saw the photograph, I was immediately captivated, like so many others, by her haunting green eyes. Seeking to challenge myself, I recreated this photograph without using any color at all. My goal was to capture the intensity of the Afghan Girl's gaze, even without emphasizing the color of her beautiful eyes.
(Oranges) This drawing, a personal favorite of mine, is also one of my only drawings using pastels. I made this entirely in color in order to capture the brightness of the oranges against the vibrant blue background. I enjoyed playing with the shadows and lighting, working to give my oranges a spherical look, and the vivid contrast between the two complimentary colors that I used.
This sketch was my first attempt at using the Subtraction Method: in other words, using dark, heavy strokes of the charcoal and then using an eraser on the spots that are touched by the light. I was using a style that was exactly the opposite of what I was used to, which made this ordinary charcoal drawing both beneficial and fun.
