Visiting an object once and then working from consecutive sketches isn’t Megan’s only process. She also has a more “spread-out process” in which she develops a relationship with an object/image and revisits it more than once. “The object becomes a character in the sketch so I like to revisit them. It’s not a one-off. It’s going to stay for a while.”

Sometimes Megan will move a sketch out of her sketchbook as the possible seed of a painting. She’ll even collage several sketches together. “Sometimes it takes two sketchbook sketches to be molded together to make one piece.” I was curious about how she arrives at the decision to move from a sketch to a painting. She shared that it’s when “they’re not a closed loop. They still have a wiry energy to them that I can work with outside the sketchbook.”

To transition into a painting, Megan redraws the sketchbook drawings on sheets of craft paper, continually sketching to “capture the form and the space distribution correctly.” Multiple iterations on this loose paper all serve to support the painting. She is grateful that the sketches have lost their “preciousness” by this point. “The sketches are preparatory to gain muscle memory for the painting. But there can be frustration because sometimes the sketch WAS the finished piece! I look at my sketchbook and think those are the gold. I ruined it by making a painting!”

lorrie fredette

lorrie fredette