Leah Caplan

This drawing started as a quick sketch, just to see what I could do only using black paint and the white of the paper. I liked the way the contrast was so stark so I just keep adding more details. I gave her groceries to hold. I added a background behind her. Then I added details to the background like windows and doors. Then because it seemed like she was sanding in the sun and I pictured her standing in the light of a street light, I painted in the sky and the buildings to her right to make it appear as if it were night. By the time I felt it was done she practically had a whole backstory.

Unlike the other pieces in this collection, this work is about two people sharing a connection. Even the water that surrounds the figures echos their half moon shape. They are in their own world, so the world circles them.

In this piece the composition was always unbalanced with one figure placed to the far right side standing in a landscape of overgrown wildflowers and grasses. The work is about the growing landscape I did not want the figure to take over. I hope the color gives the left side some wight and dimension. Figures have a way of dominating art works. I wanted to find a way to make this figure equal to the space while still standing out as something different.

As the name implies these works are studies depicting spider webs. Over the summer of 2021 I did a number of drawings outside. These three in particular stood out to me since they show more then just plant life. I am very interested in the way things connect to one another, both figuratively and literally in this case. The webs are both a house and a trap. They are complicated, delicate, and almost always half invisible. It is always interesting to drawing something that is only partly seen.

These two drawings started as experiments. I wanted to describe a densely forested area but still managed to show specific plants and comfortable sense of space. Wooded areas are challenging subject matter, but they are also interesting because there is so much to observe. I made both these drawings at the same time. I feel they should stay together because they both deal with the same ideas and the same challenges of trying to depict a crowed messy space with with tone and color.

I made this work over the summer of 2021. Given that the world was still shut down in many ways I had more time work outside. Additionally, Falls Road, where I was working, was closed off to traffic. I had more space to work outside. These drawings were always meant to be studies. Working on them was like putting together a puzzle. There was so much information to consider and every time I went out to work everything was different. I wanted to capture each plant specificity while also showing depth and space. Now, I want to keep them as a single work because each piece has a different focus. They are stronger together then they are alone. They also represent a very specific time were I had the opportunity to focus on life drawing in a very unique way.