When Franna Lusson embarks on certainly one of her wildlife portraits, she doesn’t trouble with observe sketches. She dives proper in on the ultimate sheet of paper—drawing and redrawing in daring, expressive strains till she’s glad. “I work very instinctively and intuitively,” explains the Bay Space-based artist. “That’s why I erase a lot, as a result of I simply must work it till I get it proper—till I can dwell with it.” Her mixed-media pieces purpose to seize not solely bodily traits, but additionally what she calls the “elemental side” of an animal, or the sensation it evokes.
Though Lusson had by no means even seen a photograph of a Wooden Stork earlier than she started researching them for The Aviary, she was immediately taken by the chook’s distinctive presence. The massive wader—the one stork native to North America—has largely white plumage and a naked, scaly head and neck. “I would not name Wooden Storks fairly birds, however I simply cherished them,” she says. “It’s not like an on a regular basis chook that you just’d see within the neighborhood.”
Lusson was drawn to reference images that convey the chook’s spectacular breadth—the stork with wings outstretched in flight, or proudly standing tall. “I like the stance,” she says. “It’s nearly a dignified stance.” To painting the chook, Lusson began by laying out the essential determine in charcoal, erasing and redrawing as wanted. As soon as Lusson established the overall define, she smudged the charcoal to create shadows and added coloration and life with earth-toned oil pastels and coloured pencils. Then she blended the colours into the paper with linseed oil, lending depth and subtlety to the ultimate piece. Typically she’ll use a paintbrush, however simply as usually she goes in together with her fingers or nails.
The strategy offers her Wooden Stork portrait an immediacy.
Most of her items take a number of hours of labor, unfold out over a day or two. The completed items preserve a component of mess: “There’s lots of random marks on the paper that I can’t erase,” she says. “Or once I’m utilizing the linseed oil, drops will fall on the paper and stain it. They aren’t clear, antiseptic items.” The strategy offers her Wooden Stork portrait an immediacy, like a photographer capturing the ephemeral second simply earlier than a chook takes flight, when it’s ever-so-slightly out of focus.
Lusson cherished artwork as a baby, however she didn’t pursue it significantly till her early thirties, when she began learning trend illustration on the Academy of Artwork in San Francisco. Her artwork observe has supplied a therapeutic outlet for Lusson, who has a severe psychological well being analysis. Since 2010, she’s been a part of Creative Growth, a company in Oakland that advances artists with developmental disabilities. Based in 1974, the establishment offers artists with studio house, supplies, and entry to lecturers and courses, and reveals their work in its personal gallery house in addition to selling their items all through the US and internationally. For Lusson, the house has served as a creative dwelling—and a literal lifeline.
Though Lusson has expertise with portraiture, figurative drawing, and collage, she largely attracts animals and birds (her favourite is the American Crow). She’s usually distressed by society’s lack of care and consideration for different species—for instance, the federally threatened Wood Stork, whose populations plummeted in response to the degradation of its habitats within the Florida Everglades and different southeastern swamps. “We have to acknowledge them extra,” she says. “As a result of as soon as they’re gone, we will’t convey them again.” Lusson hopes to encourage extra take care of these wild creatures by means of her work, portraying them with dignity, company, and a presence uniquely their very own.
This piece initially ran within the Winter 2025 difficulty. To obtain our print journal, change into a member by making a donation today.
