Somewhere between earth and sky, landscape and seascape, mountains and clouds, natural forms and imagined shapes, float the drawings of Hilary Brace.
Her richly toned, detailed charcoal drawings (she calls them “landscapes”) carry suggestions of twisted cloud towers, intimations of tornados and watersopouts, visions of waves and mountains and hints of mysterious tubes and tunnels.
Dark cloud-like forms collide with each other above textured ridges that could be mountains, waves or another layer of clouds. Light breaks through walls and layers, reflects off of some forms and shines translucently through others with angelic luminance.
Arches and domes, caves and breakers, rain, smoke or wisps of mist roil and tumble through her images, always blurring the lines between imagination and reality, natural forms and flights of fancy.
Brace consistently walks that line and refuses to give you solid ground to stand on, forcing your imagination to flap its own wings and make its own choices. The result is almost hypnotic.
Brace works in charcoal, that most plastic of drawing mediums, exploring and composing as the drawing is created. She draws on polyester film, starting with a completely darkened surface and pulling the forms out by subtraction rather than addition.
The drawings are small in scale, more or less postcard size, but their imaginative scope is as large as the sky. (Or is it the land, or the sea?)
Suggestion courtesy of Andrea O. Kaspryk.
Wow! I was amazed when i saw this pic.
very inspirational. this is exactly what I practising for everyday.
This is the best picture ive ever seen in my life. You have so much talent its almost unreal.
your my inspiration
This is the first time I see a picture of something I experienced in the summer of 2001 during a flight between Antananarivo (capitol) and the south of Madagascar. It was an amazing view, flying between two layers of dark and heavy clouds, connected to each other by huge vertical pillars, and yes, some of them were twisted.In some spots rays of sunlight broke through. But the scale was immense, of course, it was like flying through a giant cathedral – or was it heaven? I even saw an other plane flying through it in a distance of 10 miles or something, like a small shining dot with a white tale behind it. All the other passengers were quiet and when we got out of it after some 5 minutes I asked my mate if he had seen the spectacle. Pity for him: he had been sleeping and he didn’t believe what I told him. Now I can show him the picture which is quite similar to that view.
Your talents give a boost to my memories and therefor I am very thankful to you.
It’s beautiful and intoxicating. I want so badly to be walking there now.