interested in content and meaning in
the standard sense. For me, they’re
vagaries.”
She works on Rives BFK paper,
a hardy printmaker’s material that
can take the rigors of rough mark
making, brushed off passages or
even, if she deems a piece lacking
or no longer representative of her
aesthetic, a wash-down with running
water so that only a light pastel stain
is left—a de facto underpainting for
a new work. To the BFK paper she
applies, with a 2-inch brush, a thick
layer of Golden Acrylic Ground for
Pastels, mixed with water to help it
flow. Preferring an uneven surface,
she brushes on the ground in random
strokes, leaving ridges that create
patterns and texture lines beneath
subsequent layers of pastel.
Once the ground has dried,
Richman makes that first telling
decision that trips the series of deci-
sions to follow, each color or line or
value suggesting the next addition
or subtraction. She may begin with a
charcoal line or a patch of color. If she
starts with the latter, she may smear
the color over the paper with a rag or
brush or her hand, perhaps adding
alcohol to extend the pastel over the
surface, leaving some areas thick
with color and others with the merest
tinting or wash. The smeared color
becomes an underpainting.
“But when I see a large swathe of
color,” she says, “I have to mix it up.”
Then she might balance the color
with another area of color—or draw
in a graffiti-like “X” or number. An
admirer of the late graffiti artist
Jean-Michel Basquiat, she’s drawn
to works with words, numbers and
bits of printed material, which she
refers to as “devices.” Other devices
include symbols, icons, and compo-
sitional lines or divisions that recur
in her work.CLOCKWISE
FROM LEFT
Mercury (9x9)
But You Can Never
Leave (20x20)
Startle Reflex
(14x14)56 Pastel Journal OCTOBER 2019