Sometimes History

...in its simplest form is also the most revealing.  I mean the under-story: the secrets hidden behind the veil of time.  You cannot know the way a person in the past felt or thought without a bit of digging.  The gold nugget lies in catching a glimpse of the heart.


I am one of those artists who loves history, and especially if I have a touch-point, or some connection, with the past.  The more distant the connection is to the past, the sweeter.  

1865-1906: Henri Roché (father) takes over the "Maison" 

It is exciting to deliver this link from La Maison du Pastel, in Paris.  Nobody else has the rich history of the pastel company of M. Henri Roche.  What is history, without character?  These sticks have that, and I am finding it out for myself by trying out 15 of the sticks in my studio.  


I am a very intuitive pastelist, or I try to be.  I don't go forward very scientifically, or in an organized fashion.  How do I find the new sticks?  It is an emotional response.  The range of textures and the purity of the hues in these pastels are not found in any other stick that I have tried.  They are the secret weapon; the game changer in any picture.  My respect for what will happen when I use them is estimable, because they offer the opportunity for very high intensity.  If you haven't observed by now, let me tell you that intensity is the focus of my contemporary work.  


There you have it.  The circle has been completed: the past can speak to the present, if you will just listen quietly.  

boîte Degas

Images: the website of La Maison du Pastel.