Hi I'm Tonia Bonnell, and my piece in the exhibition Big Draw Colorado is titled "In the Explosion: Rise," from my recent series "In the Explosion."
Like much of my work over the past couple decades, this drawing is built up with the repetition of short, individual, hand-drawn lines, in this case using pencil and colored pencil on frosted Mylar.
The marks that I draw are simple, small parts that act similarly to musical notes. They gain mood and movement when they are composed, and the overall result is greater than the sum of the parts.
Within this image, a cloud-like form, sharp edges, warm glowing color, and marks that are so light they're only noticed up close become the features that give this piece energy, all while being built up from the steady, deliberate underlying rhythm of the repetitive marks.