Leroy Jensen


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Gouache and Charcoal on Paper
9 1/4" x 11 1/4" Framed

"This collection of 24 small, wash and line drawings, currently on exhibit at Steffich Fine Art, were created in the studio. Based on years of careful observation and constant drawing, they take us immediately back to sun washed shores and the lovely idle moments of summer.

They remain as fresh and appealing today as when they were first made, the compositions full of life and movement. In many the enjoyment of water is emphasized by the fluidity of his characteristic bold use of line. This gives each figure weight and vigor, and defines the freely applied washes that underpin the drawing and evoke the light and setting of the beach. The viewers eye goes from one scene to the next: the exuberance of adults playing in the sea, the freedom of a couple about to go skinny dipping, while in a quieter mood his drawings of small seated groups perfectly capture the companionable feel of those summer afternoons. As always in his work there are tender compositions of mother and child, balanced by a few drawings of solitary figures, sculptural in their solidity and bringing to mind the works on paper of Henry Moore and Rico Lebrun.

As with all good drawings they allow our own imagination to come into play, a soundscape is evoked of distant laughter and water breaking on a pebbled shore. The intimacy and directness of the drawing captures just a fleeting moment but those moments are expansive and stay in our minds eye long after the sun has set on a lovely day."

~ Margaret Day
Published in the Gulf Island's Driftwood Newspaper November 2022


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