debbykaspari@sbcglobal.net

I sketch animals from life. The heart of my work is the joy of walking through a forest, especially a tropical forest, searching the chaos of vegetation for a glimpse of toucans carousing in a Virola tree or white faced monkeys moving smoothly through the treetops. The green tangle of the tropics is a major character in my work. I love to visually tumble my audience through spaces where complex chaos fills the gaps. Even when the completed work is a detailed acrylic on board, the vitality of the life sketches always peek through. This is particularly true in my most recent pastel and graphite drawings. The subjects rendered in brilliant color emerge from the exposed outlines of the background vines and leaves; they show both the thrill of discovery and the dissonance of a natural world in the process of dissolving at the edges.