Charles Ritchie

Gallery Affiliations: Gallery Joe, BravinLee programs, Center Street Studio

Region: South

Website: http://www.charlesritchie.com/

City / State: Silver Spring, MD

My drawings are constructed over extended periods—months and years. Darks are usually mixed from other colors, not including black, as a means of keeping warm and cool tonalities in flux. My primary medium is watercolor, and in recent works I have used gum arabic to help build tone, add transparency, control washes, and increase reversibility. At the same time, I have been observing color more closely and have added more hues to my palette.

Since 1985, I have been drawing from the same window, studying a limited group of subjects. At night, I find that the streetscape merges with the reflection of my studio interior, and I am intrigued with the disorientation and the associations that arise: security versus freedom, transparency and juxtaposition, the equivalence of near and far, and evocations of intimate immensity. After years of scrutiny, these subjects have accrued greater meaning and mystery for me. As I evolve with them, I come to deeper levels of awareness and to more fully interpret the magic and mystery behind the surface of things.