Sticking Series Folio

In 2009 I started working on a series of drum stick and mallet portraits that I call the Sticking Series. It happened by accident. I was working on a painting that I wasn’t happy with so I kept painting over it with gesso. Eventually I had a big red sphere. It reminded me of a red plastic xylophone mallet so I thought, “Why not? All I need is to paint a shaft on the side” and voila, the idea was born. Drum sticks are some of the simplest tools imaginable and I’ve had them in my hands since I was seven years old. Only lately have I come to appreciate their aesthetic properties.