Silverpoint, a drawing medium that uses a silver stylus to make marks on a prepared surface, is one of the oldest art media. Twelfth-century monks first used lead styli to prepare manuscript illuminations. Despite being almost impossible to erase, silver gradually became the preferred metal.  Draftsmen esteemed it for its fine lines, soft, intimate tonalities and intensifying image as the silver tarnishes warm, golden brown. By Renaissance times, every great artist, from Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael to Dürer and Holbein, used silverpoint for both preparatory and finished drawings. They produced masterpieces as fresh and vibrant today as when they were executed over 500 years ago.

Graphite's discovery, together with chalks' versatility, displaced silver for drawing. It was virtually forgotten for hundred of years.  Cennino Cennini's Il Libro dell'Arte 1390 manuscript, rediscovered in the 19th century, revealed the technique of silverpoint. Gradually word spread and artists tried drawing in silver, copper, gold, platinum and other metals.  Today, metalpoint, and especially silverpoint drawings, are increasingly recognized for their lustrous delicacy, immediacy and precision.

These very characteristics tend, however, to limit the number of artists drawing in silverpoint. Demanding in drawing skills, permanent and unpredictable, silverpoint is an exacting taskmaster.  Yet, for me, silverpoint allows a shimmering dialogue with the world around me.

All artwork is executed on 100% cotton rag paper with materials to provide archival stability.