Denice Bartels' interest in the Light and Space period informs her intimate drawings of reflected light.  She draws from photos of various patterns of light on the surface of water where she found a two-dimensional materiality to the light's shapes.  The appeal of drawing light patterns is in stretching her drawing chops and the formal qualities of each series' materials.

The series include photo-realistic drawings done in graphite; flat, graphic drawings done in pastel and charcoal; and the opacity of gouache and Prismacolor in other drawings convey the density and luminosity of light.  Materials and process marry in some series to suggest stellar formations, nightscapes, aqueous sludge, and a relationship between micro- and macrocosms.

Bartels spent five years traveling overland through all the inhabited continents before attaining degrees at Claremont Graduate University and Otis College of Art and Design.  She lives and works in Los Angeles.