KEEPSIES Study
Working as a hyperrealistic pencil artist, you'd be forgiven for just assuming that I choose an object at random and start drawing.
In my selection process there are two elements I consider. First, the concept, tone or thought I'm trying to communicate. It's what I'd consider the emotional side. Secondly, it's the object itself. What visual representation connects with the concept, but also more crucially, presents me enough challenge to incite my creative curiosity in figuring out how best to draw it successfully. This is the technical component of the piece.
I believe that you can have one without the other, but for my art practice, having these two components and allowing them to build on one another is essential to create a powerful piece. It's my secret sauce. Having a meaningful (to me) concept, but also a challenging material or texture that I'm excited to portray, is really what gets me through the months-long journey of completing a piece.
In 2025 I had just completed my piece KALEIDOLLSCOPE, a colourful, chaotic scattering of my daughters' dolls. It was a way that I could connect with my children through art and get them involved and excited about what I was doing. I finished the piece still thinking about the way children interact with toys and how they shape their childhood. The emotional concept was there and I wanted to explore it further.
Toys and playthings are the tools for children to unlock their imagination and hold a certain kind of magic that only young eyes can discern.
Keeping this emotional tether at the forefront of my mind, I needed to select an object that would capture this thought, but also fulfil the technical component of my selection process. Thinking back to my own childhood, I landed on marbles. I myself had a set, and of course, a favourite (a sturdy lime green one that reminded me of a pea). Thinking back on how it felt to have a little net of marbles filled with those magical spheres and then to play a game of marbles, for keepsies, of course. I always played for keepsies, but never risked my best marble. You've never been a kid with a marble who didn't press their eye up to a cat's eye and get lost in the swirly galaxy waiting inside.
These kinds of moments in childhood are exactly the kind of feeling I wanted to create, and the challenging facet of trying to communicate a perfectly reflective, transparent marble was just the right materiality to get my curiosity in the right space. All the components were in place. But a marble? Just one? Maybe a single marble wasn't as compelling as I felt about it. I didn't know if it captured the spirit of the piece, and also wanted to challenge myself in a way that even if the concept didn't land, the sheer size and scale would.
So, what if I drew them all?
It seemed like a crazy notion, and something that would feel unhinged, obsessive, but also wild and carefree. Just the way children are about the things that are important to them. It all clicked together in a way that felt effortless. That's the point when I know a piece needs to be made.
So KEEPSIES became my ode to childhood, wonder, obsession and magic. I hope it makes you think back to your own childhood and the objects and moments that you found magical.
R
