Works on Paper: Denise Presnell-Weidner

I have spent a great deal of the past many years creating paintings or pastels of the Sheboygan or Pigeon Rivers near my home. Having devoted my imagery to images of pure nature — I ignored all man made structures, whether they be bridges or buildings. There were times I used the framing of a bridge like a viewfinder to frame my composition — but I would never include the structure itself. A couple of years ago I was drawn to bringing that geometric form inside my picture frame. The juxtaposition of the man made with nature seemed a natural for me. Just including an edge of a bridge felt like a breath of fresh air for me as an artist. The bridge was becoming that opportunity for change that reinvigorates an artist long since stuck in a quagmire of repetitive images. Having spent at least a dozen years avoiding geometry, contrast and spatial depth, the inclusion of this geometric form gave me an opportunity to also return to the joy of painting flat planes. I had forgotten how pleasurable it was to drag a brush across the surface of the canvas, changing the color and value slowly. I had become simply tired of covering my canvases with splashes and dabs of paint even though I knew this was what was expected of me by now. I knew I needed a change but I wasn’t quite sure how far to look for something new in my work. The bridge form literally and figuratively facilitated that change.

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