Freeman’sobjectiveforeachsubsequentpaintingisto
makeit betterandofa highertechnicalcaliberthanthe
onebefore—agoalthathebelieveshasbeenmotivating.
“Ilovetochallengemyselfandenjoynavigatingthrough
thechallengesposedbyeverynewpainting,”hesays.“I’m
constantlysurprisedbyareaswithina paintingthatI ini-
tiallythoughtwouldberelativelystraightforward,onlyto
discoverthattheyposeunexpectedquestions.”THE ABSENCE OFSTROKES
WhenFreemanworkedinacrylic,hisprimarychallenge
wasremovinganysenseofthebrushfromhiswork—“I always paint what I love, and I enjoy putting things in the
spotlight that others might dismiss or simply pass by without
actually seeing or experiencing their details and beauty.”
the opposite of what many working artists strive to
achieve. With pastel, Freeman is similarly driven to erase
any notion of the medium itself. “That doesn’t mean that
I don’t greatly admire the technical skill and beautiful
mark-making of all styles of other pastel artists,” he
says. “One of the primary goals of photorealism is for the
artist to eliminate all sense of the medium being used
to create the painting—to be able to have total control
over the medium to the point where its very essence is
difficult to discern even up close. That’s something I feel
I get closer to attaining with the completion of every new
painting, although the bar also seems to be raised by
equal measure.”50 Pastel Journal JUNE 2019