This project started in the spring of 2003 when I was enrolled in an advanced drawing class with Paul Ryan at Mary Baldwin College. All of these drawings are made on facsimile (fax) paper and the marks are created by applying heat in various ways to the paper. The early drawings were made by “drawing” the paper across the heated burner of an electric stove top. The process that emerged as most successful was the use of heat as a “stationary pencil” in which I moved the paper to make the drawing instead of moving the “pencil.” As I continued to experiment with the paper I used a hair dryer as the heating element. Some of the drawings have marks from both types of heat and were folded, mutilated and spindled in a multitude of ways in order to produce a variety of effects.
I would like to thank Paul Ryan for his encouragement and for offering me this opportunity to display this work. Another big THANKS! goes to North Branch School for providing nearly all of the fax paper and the use of their electric stove.

Michael Donegan August 2003