Olivia Mae Pendergast
Artist Statement

I used to be consumed with drawing things as they physically appeared to be. As a trained illustrator, I would start a drawing with a very solid idea, a representational idea, of what the finished piece would look like. There was much emphasis on mass and form. This is still apparent in some of my oils. When I lost the ability to work in oils, due to a severe sensitivity to linseed oil, it coincided, unintentionally, with a lightening of my hand, of my technique and of my figures. I no longer feel the compulsion to foretell what a drawing will look like before it has even been started. Drawing is happening to me.

The fragile continuous lines in my work reflect my illusive future as the line meanders and rambles shaping fragmented form at will. There is just a falling, a trusting that the line will form something recognizable. My experience is that the line just seems to express what it needs to about the individual or subject being drawn.

There is a subtle urgency in my technique. The subjects that chose me to paint them are mirrors of myself. I feel so passionate about painting figures and portraits. I see each person as doing the best they can with given circumstances and I try to show that quality in my paintings. Each struggle is so sweet.

Olivia Mae Pendergast
Artist Statement

I used to be consumed with drawing things as they physically appeared to be. As a trained illustrator, I would start a drawing with a very solid idea, a representational idea, of what the finished piece would look like. There was much emphasis on mass and form. This is still apparent in some of my oils. When I lost the ability to work in oils, due to a severe sensitivity to linseed oil, it coincided, unintentionally, with a lightening of my hand, of my technique and of my figures. I no longer feel the compulsion to foretell what a drawing will look like before it has even been started. Drawing is happening to me.

The fragile continuous lines in my work reflect my illusive future as the line meanders and rambles shaping fragmented form at will. There is just a falling, a trusting that the line will form something recognizable. My experience is that the line just seems to express what it needs to about the individual or subject being drawn.

There is a subtle urgency in my technique. The subjects that chose me to paint them are mirrors of myself. I feel so passionate about painting figures and portraits. I see each person as doing the best they can with given circumstances and I try to show that quality in my paintings. Each struggle is so sweet.