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| "From the Stairwell Below" 2010. Charcoal on Paper. 22x30. Katherine Nelson |
Nightfall descended like a black velvet curtain which cloaked my world in mystery. I spent my last few months in Europe exploring silent streets and landscapes of suburbia. The darkness resonated with the unknown around each corner. I selectively sought compositions containing my own individual visual definition of the film noir genre in a singular still frame format. I avoided humans in my images only desiring to leave evidence of their past presence. Graffitti, soot stained stairwells, empty cars, rural roads illuminated by man made light took me away from my daylight in which I am comfortably familiar. Eliminating sunlight as a source I discovered street lamps, spot lights, lit windows, and the soft moon as sources to illuminate the nocturne. Drawing night on white paper is a building process which requires isolation of the whites to remain untouched by charcoal. I enjoyed this much like a challenging game working with soft rather than hard erasers to build nuances of illumination within the imagery.
Lonely yet romantic, familiar and strange, nostalgic and figurative, foreboding and yet oddly comforting, the nocturne drew me out into new light.” –Katherine Nelson
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| "Open Garage Ahead". 2010. Charcoal on paper. 22x30 Katherine Nelson |
