With regard to "artmaking", there is a great distance from the original intent of an idea, to its resulting objectification. The process is long, and often times unsuccessful. The learning curve is a beneficial component to the process, and failure is an absolute part as well.This exhibition offers a reflection upon a portion of my process. For me, the first effort to visualize my ideas happens in the sketchbooks, and most of the experiments begin in these books.The drawings (on various sizes of handmade papers) are then coaxed and culled from observations I have recorded in the notebooks. Each morning in the studio, my first work is in the sketchbooks, and I usually work in a dozen or so books at the same time.After a period of sketching, I then continue my work on several drawings which are always in progress in various stages of completion. Some drawings develop directly from a sketch and become resolved; some drawings develop independently and take on a life of their own; some drawings serve to inform large scale paintings; and many drawings fail completely.And so, the work day progresses as the process continues with failures and new beginnings. These drawings in particular derive their subjects from my studies of the fields and forests near my studio. These mountain areas in western North Carolina are always changing, yet always the same. Everything is a process. - Susan RobertWith regard to "artmaking", there is a great distance from the original intent of an idea, to its resulting objectification. The process is long, and often times unsuccessful. The learning curve is a beneficial component to the process, and failure is an absolute part as well.This exhibition offers a reflection upon a portion of my process. For me, the first effort to visualize my ideas happens in the sketchbooks, and most of the experiments begin in these books.The drawings (on various sizes of handmade papers) are then coaxed and culled from observations I have recorded in the notebooks. Each morning in the studio, my first work is in the sketchbooks, and I usually work in a dozen or so books at the same time.After a period of sketching, I then continue my work on several drawings which are always in progress in various stages of completion. Some drawings develop directly from a sketch and become resolved; some drawings develop independently and take on a life of their own; some drawings serve to inform large scale paintings; and many drawings fail completely.And so, the work day progresses as the process continues with failures and new beginnings. These drawings in particular derive their subjects from my studies of the fields and forests near my studio. These mountain areas in western North Carolina are always changing, yet always the same. Everything is a process. - Susan Robert