Artist Medium

Artist Bowen Boshier finds that pencil is well suited to capturing contrasts and textures. It holds the expectant silence that our African wilderness contains.

Pencil, with its large range of tones, like black and white photography, can carry the essence of a subject. It is slightly abstract in that it shows forms or landscapes that we are familiar with, but without their colour. Our imaginations are compelled to step in and become involved with the image and imbue the work with the colour of our own feelings and experiences.

How I do my pencil art drawings
I love to draw pristine wilderness; to lose myself in an unmarred landscape is to immerse myself in endless time. Through my travels, I discover and get to know places. I spend time on location, sometimes months in one place; walking and watching, sketching and sculpting. I am fascinated by detail so each drawing takes a long time to complete. Creatures get used to my presence and carry on their life around me. I watch birds build their nests, hear them court, witness the first flight of the fledglings.

It is a challenge to isolate a subject or encapsulate a portion of a landscape. By confining it to the boundaries of the paper, it is separated off from its relationship to the rest of the world. Now it has to hold the viewer’s eye; it has to have its own life.

For the cropped-off window to resonate with the essence of the subject, it must also harmonise with the inner landscape of our minds.

I use nature to advise me on aesthetics and balance. The piece must hold a moment in place, a mood or atmosphere that can sing out through time.

Each drawing feels like an expedition, with its preparation, endurance, lessons and satisfaction.

Please contact us should you be interested in commissioning this artist.