debra j draws
Click here to see my most recent piece, Bystanders Plagued.
About Debra J. Lansdowne
She graduated from Homer Central School in the class of 1975. During her high school years painting and drawing were enjoyable and she was encouraged by Mr. Fred Latimer to pursue a career in art as he believed she showed talent.
She started this education at Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3) where Mary Kelly headed the department that introduced her to many forms of creation utilizing design, drawing, painting, batik, pottery and more. At his time she also began studying the history of Art and was introduced to figure study when she took some classes at SUNY Cortland.
She graduated from TC3 in 1978 with an Associate in Science degree then transferred that credit to Potsdam College of Arts and Science (SUNY Potsdam) where she was strongly influenced by many great instructors. While at Potsdam she majored in "general studio" learning techniques in many different forms of art, such as: drawing, painting, pottery, photography, printmaking (including intaglio and lithography) sculpture and of course history and appreciation. Here she graduated in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science degree and also earned a teaching certification for grades k-12.
Throughout the years since graduating she has continued her education attending Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) where she studied photography for over a year, then pursued a photography career for the next 10 years. That leading to learning graphic arts and eventually a career that utilizes both photography and graphic arts.
Debra never stopped dabbling in pottery (keeps a full studio with wheel and kiln at her house) and in the past few years has experienced a recent resurgence with the joy of figure study.
She now lives in St. Petersburg, Florida where she is a Senior Graphics Designer for her county government and twice a week eagerly participates in figure study workshops (and about once a month monitors the sessions).
Artists Statement April 2010
I am so loving creating from referencing the human figure using watercolor media (crayons and paints) now. It excites me the way I can combine drawing and painting.
It starts with warm-up gestures (about 10 one minute poses). I usually have several different pages going, sketching with the lighter colored watercolor crayons. With such little time I make very quick decisions about the colors and juxtaposition, often switching back and forth between pages. When we move to the longer held poses (anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours) I make a quick visual study, choose the warm-up sheet that I feel will work best with the composition before me and mentally view it on the page. I like to sketch in my basic composition using a watercolor crayon, choosing a color that I feel will accentuate the feel of the pose. I then paint in the shadows using watercolor paints, usually using the blues or greens and dabbing into reds and bleeding them in for really dark areas. The previous gesture drawings colors often melt into the canvas creating capricious, vibrant compositions. I’m starting to feel a real connection to the watercolors and definitely want to continue moving in this colorful direction and beyond.
Debra J. Lansdowne
Questions or comments? You can send me e-mail at my NEW address: debrajdraws@aol.com