Gillian Russell Cook, originally from the UK, is a long time resident of Clarke County and lives near Berryville, VA. From an early age, Gillian had a love of art and drawing. While at boarding school at the age of 15, her design of a sculpture was chosen and built outside the school’s Art Building. Later in 1987 after attending an art course at Lord Fairfax Community College, in Winchester, VA she received a letter stating; “Congratulations! Your sketch is the winner of Interlude Cover Contest”. This was somewhat of a surprise as she was not aware of the magazine or the contest, but an honor all the same.
Growing up in a rural area, surrounded with dogs and horses, it was natural to gravitate towards drawing animals, but for the last forty years, a busy life got in the way. Since retirement, she has rediscovered her past love and creativity and is now enjoying exploring the world of colored pencils. Gillian finds this medium provides endless possibilities to enhance her love of detail and use of color that she incorporates in her work. There are two different surfaces that she prefers to use depending on the subject; drafting film which has a very smooth surface and gives a great finish to get realistic fluffy fur or the bright iridescent colors of moving water, or Claire Fontaine’s Patelmat that allows multiple layering and mixing of color on the page and leads to a better surface for details. Her goal is to give her subject life, so you can sense what they are thinking, their fur looks like it feels, but there is still a softness not found in a photograph. She enjoys working on compositions where a glimpse of her sense of humor can shine through in her work.
