I love pencils – they were my first art passion. Just graphite on paper is much like black and white photography. It has a serenity and mood that pulls you in. As an artist and illustrator who creates realistic artwork I loved the technical aspects, the movement and shape. Once I was introduced to the work of the American artist, Paul Calle, I was hooked for life. Calle used the pencil more like pen and ink with individual strokes next to each other instead of blending. The direction of the strokes, the weight of the line, and the white space of the paper create movement and shadows. It’s no surprise that this style worked so well for me because I could use it in ink as well as prismacolor.