last night we looked at the work of an artist that Beth met. Beth met her at a gallery, where the artist was trying to get her work shown. I think I know why the gallery passed, but it is lovely work. she works entirely with pencils, coloured and graphite. she draws iconic scenes of people and animals. I saw resemblance to the work of Rousseau and Chagall, and also of Aleut art. she claimed Persian design as an influence. flat images, but with a surprising weight. I mean the weight of angels, because the images seem to float on the paper with luminous verity. she builds up layers, erases, uses a lot of white. I think she said she used 120 white pencils last winter, an unfathomable amount. her works are small, say around 5x8 mainly. I think the gallery, tho a good one, looks more for works that fit living room decors and big business settings. her works are meticulous and delicate. she does with pencils what other artists would do with watercolour and ink. and she doesn't use water soluable pencils. to get that sort of coverage, she cross hatches. a feature, I'd even call it an oddity, of her work: she pencils in little commentaries as she works. the lettering is tiny, I needed a magnifying glass to read it. random thoughts about the work, or the weather, jotted down as she draws. I found this fascinating. she situates these (now) so that that they can be hidden by matting if one chooses. some buyers have found them intrusive. I think these comments are instrinsic to the work and the process. she showed older work in which the text (in slightly larger lettering) much overwhelmed the image. that is, the words seemed the central aspect of the work. the writing seemed too personal, however, a private journal. we didn't buy anything but intend to.