Andrea Sutton

From childhood doodles to studies at Sheridan College and UBC's botanical illustration program, I've been driven to recreate the world around me in intimate detail with a pencil. While pursuing contract work as an illustrator, I continued exploring portraiture and figurative drawing, where I not only gained professional satisfaction but discovered where my true passion lay.  

 

The many hours spent building detail with the fine tip of a pencil creates an incredible intimacy and brings me closer to a portrait subject. This intimate process also invites the viewer to see more deeply into the character of the subject - through every line on a face, every flyaway hair, every twinkle in an eye, each pencil stroke brings you closer to understanding that true essence. ​

 

When exploring the human figure in other works, I love the chance to express myself in pencil through more unguarded moments. Picking up the pencil may just be a form of "tumbling through the looking glass" to examine joy, surprise, humour, grief, fear.​​​..and love.