Many years ago I received a free issue of a magazine—American Artist was the name of it—in which a colored-pencil artist was featured in an article written by James A. Metcalfe. Back then I had dreams of creating images with whatever media happened to be within my reach, and the photo realism of this artist amazed me. Her name is Jeffrey Smart Baisden, and how cool is that? To have a commonly-known-as-male name? I’m not going to run off and change my name to Bob or Carl now, but it certainly has a nice ring to it.
Alabama-born Mrs. Smart says that “working with colored pencil is tiring, tedious, laborious work, and not for those expecting immediate results” and I agree, as nonproficient as I am with the medium, but I love the results she obtains as much as I enjoy her subject matter. Little capsules in places and times that might not mean anything to anyone else, but they have a story behind them, a biography that follows every object we own and eventually discard, as we are so wont of doing in this land.
I think the light and dark play in her images lends itself perfectly to making them seem like genuine photos. That’s the first impression I get when I look an the thumbnails below. Enjoy!
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- Fabrications, 1993, 14 x 20.
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- Slings and Arrows, 1998, 30 x 20.
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- The Girlfriend Dance, 2001, 17 x 20.
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- Southern Totem, 1995, 22 x 30.
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- Public Housing, 2000, 30 x 19.
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- The Colonel, 1996, 30 x 16.
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- Silver Linings, 1998, 30 x 19.
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- Adjourned, 2001, 22 x 29.
And you know… this work often reminds me of this collage:
Sweet Infestation, by Cashia
