I’ve been in an experimental mood…
A shift started in the spring with the Doodle Ladies and it has just carried through all summer. I think the pandemic rattled something loose inside me and pushed me to take a detour into works on paper.
In the studio, I’ve been playing around with pinhole punching in some very tiny drawings. That led to pin punching some bigger abstract drawings. Then before I knew it I was pushing the needle into even bigger drawings that became more elaborate.
This is one…I call them “Light Bright Ladies.” Although they could just as easily be called “Poppy Ladies” because I’m pretty sure they got their start from all the poppy photos I took this spring.
What I find interesting about these mixed media pieces is the way the light plays on the surface and transforms it when backlit.
It’s a little exhausting on the fingertips to punch so many holes through the paper but also surprisingly soothing. I just splurged on a fancy Pergamano tool so that should save my little finger muscles…(in case you were concerned;)
I like the braille effect when I run my finger over the surface. I also like to think of the process as paper voodoo or acupuncture for paper…it depends on if I’m feeling vexed or in a healing mood;)
Front lit
You might not see her if you look too quick…but she is there. Look for the eyes.
Back lit
These ladies are a little unruly…I mean ripply…to get these photos I had to tape them to windows and walls. I’m not sure how I would display this work as I’m interested in both the front-lit and the backlit versions.
This work is all still very experimental so anything can happen…But, one idea is to frame them pressed between glass but then I would lose that ripply unruliness that I’ve come to love. Another is to print them up along with all my mixed media lady drawings from this strange pandemic time into a book.
I’m not sure how long that book would be…since this strange time still hangs over our days.
experiments to be continued…
“If I cease searching, then, woe is me, I am lost. That is how I look at it - keep going, keep going come what may.”
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