Rock Stories: A Drawing Series by Denise Lorenz

The Lake Huron waters of Thunder Bay beckoned for a few restful summer days. The artist became enthralled with the thousands of well-worn beach pebbles. Every direction offered a new array of size, color, pattern and inclusion. The visual pleasure of “pudding stones,” fossils, beach glass and more, prompted the search for that perfect stone or that well-crafted photo.

The drawings evolved from staged events on the water’s edge. The rock assortments, the lighting, the gentle ripples of water teasing the shore – these were arrested in photographs and later manipulated on the computer. It became a meditation for Lorenz to allow the stones to speak through slowly developed layers of ink and colored pencil.

Examine the minute textures and patterns of Rock Stories. There is an energy locked in the rocks – a memory that reverberates from times long past and unknown distant shores.