Artist's Statement
This website presents for the first time artworks that I made over the past 30-plus years.
In the early 1980's I made eleven paintings of grass, beginning with all-over patterns of brush strokes & ending with compositions featuring
such things as an individual blade of grass, a spider, or a common weed. Simultaneously I made ink drawings of
things around me, fanciful scenes from the book I was writing, stuff out of my head, & so on. Sometimes I simply drew lines on the paper.
These paintings & drawings were partially inspired by readings on Taoism, Buddhism, & Metaphysics.
In the late 1980's I made 16 paintings of people I loved in visually interesting environments, handling the paint differently than I did years before.
Those paintings were greatly inspired by photographs of my family & friends which I had taken over the years.
As I worked on these paintings they became more abstract, & I've been making mostly abstract drawings & paintings ever since.
Between the years 2000 & 2003 I made over 100 abstract paintings on canvas, many of which I've exhibited in art shows.
From 2003 through 2012 I worked exclusively with color pencil, making a full range of drawings. In 2013 I began painting over my abstract paintings
on canvas with even more spontaneous paintings, seeking a deeper more subconscious and-or emotional quality in my artwork.
It is mostly those color pencil drawings & the latter 80 more spontaneous paintings that are especially represented here.
In 2013 I also made a collection of 20 small graphite-lead pencil drawings & made them into a book titled "Generally Speaking",
which combines & contrasts text with imagery. I'm including parts of that book on this website, also.
Since January 2015 I have completed many carefully made graphite-lead pencil drawings, which address a variety of contemporary considerations in a very personal way.
What am I trying to accomplish with all this artwork? Besides pleasing myself by expressing whatever I'm expressing,
I like to think I'm producing art that might entertain people interested in it by giving their eyes & minds (& hearts & souls)
a temporary place to dwell away from the usual day-to-day grind of living our extraordinary lives. I hope you enjoy seeing it.
Questions and comments are much appreciated at (831) 648 - 9439.
I here want to thank my friend Derek Powers Clark for engineering this website.
Sincerely yours,
Peter F. Collins
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