Maryborough’s Possum Gully Fine Arts Gallery and Gardens will feature the work of Bendigo artist Lyn Raymer throughout winter.

After many years living and working overseas – including running a gallery in Hong Kong – Lyn moved to Bendigo six years ago and has pursued her love of drawing.

“In my work, I often use a reductive technique,” Lyn said.

“I begin by rubbing charcoal onto the surface, then use erasers to lift the charcoal and reveal the light areas. I then work back into the drawing with charcoal and conte and erasers.”

Lyn’s love of crowd-watching is reflected in her work. As a young child, Lyn would wonder about people in crowds on trips to Melbourne. Much later, while living in an apartment in Hong Kong, Lyn would look down on crowds of people as they went about their day.

“I look at the constantly changing shapes of crowds and those who move among and through a very public transit area with purpose and pattern,”, Lyn said.

“I do work obsessively, and so I finish up working in a series.

“I like the duality of the crowd; the movement and the shape is organic and I think about each of those figures as I draw them. There is always a story.

“My thoughts mass and migrate across the surface the same way as the crowd, determining destinations; dreaming of detours.”

Lyn’s attention to detail is evident in her life drawings and portraits, which she believes reflect as much about the artist as they do about the subject.

“I work from the gesture to the squint. My thoughts mass and migrate across the surface the same way as the crowd, determining destinations; dreaming of detours.

“Drawing is gathering your thoughts to look out and beyond the model, or to simply observe the model as a way of trying to grasp the complexity of the human form.”