"It's
hard for me to pinpoint the exact time when I started drawing. My maternal
grandfather had a lot to do with it. He was the 'closet' artist in our family.
When I was little he loved to entertain me with his favourite trick: He'd take a
piece of paper and scribble a random mass of lines with a pencil or pen. He'd then
add two or three lines and a beautiful horse stared at me from the paper. To me
it was magic.
"I
soon begun collecting horse pictures and I guess, at some point, started drawing
them. My attempts were sporadic and each time I started a new drawing, I was
sure the last time I was just lucky. I could not possibly draw another nice
picture again. It took me 30 somewhat years to realize that, hey, maybe I really
can draw!
"Even
when I was relatively comfortable drawing horses, it never occurred to me I
could draw other subjects. That perception was shattered one night in a live
model drawing class I took in university. In front of me was a very cute
and very naked guy, a sheet of paper and a piece of charcoal. I was terrified
and sure someone would soon realize I was an impostor and kick me out. The class
started with quick five minute poses. Faced with little time I worked furiously and
ignored all logical thought. The results were amazing. But even then it was
years before I drew anything other than horses.
"Only now I'm beginning to feel comfortable enough with my skill to attempt drawing just about anything and noticed my focus changing. While in the past I was happy producing a good likeness now I want my pictures to tell an interesting or an amusing story.
"In my work, I try to uncover and show the beauty we don't notice in our daily lives. We all rush around and only glance at things. I want people to stop, look closer, and see the things I see: the simple beauty of life and creation."
Born and raised in Poland, Margaret has made her home in the Hamilton, Ontario area for the past 26 years.
It's
not a coincidence I started with drawing horses and nothing else for a long
time. I've loved horses for as long as I can remember and lately I realized I
draw best the things I love the most. With this understanding, when I begin a
new project, I spend the first few days studying the photograph. I learn every
detail, I stare at it for long periods of time trying to find secrets no one
else sees and, inevitably, I grow to love the subject.
When
working on a drawing, I sometimes find myself possessed by a passion
and it feels as if the pencil strokes were not graphite scraping on
paper but my hand caressing the real thing.
For years I strived to duplicate the magic my Grandfather showed me only to disappoint myself time after time. And then I realized my natural technique was totally different from his. Where he could draw a realistic looking horse using 10 lines, I need to render the smallest detail.
In
technical terms, I start with a line drawing sketching out the general
shape and
characteristics of the subject as well as marking the general areas of
light and dark. Then I usually start with the eyes and finish them
before I start working
on the rest of the picture. I find the eyes are the life of the
animal/person I
draw and once I have them on paper, it feels as if there was life in
the
picture, looking at me, demanding to be finished. Once the eyes are in
place, I
spread out into the other focus areas and add more and more detail
until the
picture is finished.
Towards the end of the drawing, when I feel I'm nearly done, I leave it somewhere in plain sight for a week. Every time I look at it I find something that needs improvement. I add and fix things until I cannot find anything wrong with the picture any more. I'm done! It is then very hard to part with it for it feels as if it became a part of me, or maybe never separated in the first place. But seeing my client's happy, satisfied face makes it all worthwhile.
My only hope is that my clients will enjoy looking at my work with as much pleasure as I get from creating it.
