The Artist

was always an artist. Art was respected, practiced, and nurtured in my childhood home. The roots run deep in my family - parents, grandparents, great grandparents. All aspects of art intrigue me but practicality led me into the world of design where for 20 years I was a commercial artist working in the various disciplines of industrial design, museum exhibit design, graphic design and illustration. From 1985 to 1996 my husband, Michael, and I operated a graphic design business, Haywood+ Sullivan, Inc.,  which catered to the high tech business. In 1996 a business opportunity for my husband allowed me the choice of continuing H+S or to try something different. I took the chance to return to my childhood dream of being a fine artist. With the design business becoming increasing technology driven I fell back on my love of working with my hands. I could draw. It was time to see where my artistic talent could take me if I gave it the same focus and attention I had given my design career.

As a designer I had always been a jack of all trades. It had served me well and I had loved all the stimulating aspects of different disciplines. But now I was ready for a different type of challenge. To narrow myself down to one specific medium of fine art and see how far I could go with it. I chose pastel, drawn to the colors and tactile nature of the medium. Since I made my decision I have had avenues of opportunity open and haven’t regretted my choice for a moment.

Pastel as a collector’s medium has undergone a revival in the past decade or so. With the advent of newly developed, or newly updated materials, pastel is now more archival than ever before. The primary problem for collectors was that the surfaces pastel were painted on were not archival causing the images to possibly degrade. So it was generally the surfaces that caused the problems, not the media itself. Many older pastels show little sign of aging despite the non-archival surfaces. Compare a Degas pastel to a Degas oil and you will notice that the pastel emits a vibrancy of color that the oil cannot due to the yellowing of the mediums in the oil. Pastel doesn’t yellow or crack, however it must be kept under glass to preserve the surface. If handled correctly a pastel will hold it’s vibrant color, and it’s value, for generations to come.

Pastel is the ultimate medium for painting light, it’s all about the light....