Working on new pieces for SEEING RED an open call by Heavy Bubble. I love everything about the title and the color so I decided to participate.
I'm not sure why I just prepared two panels — time to add at least one more. Thiey have been sanded twice and gessoed once. When dry I'll add another coat of gesso. I'm torn about my surface finish dull or shiny. But I always like to apply and sand at least two coats of gesso. I like spending time with prepping the panels it helps me prepare to make something.
The way to approach two pieces for the show came easily and the third took more effort. I guess the panels were telling me something when I gessoed two first.
Drawing one is The ebb and flow of my anger. It uses drop dots measuring distance. The panel itself is a matte finish magenta and my marks are yellow. This relationship makes the whole panel look more like what one would define as red. The yellow and magenta blend in a way that changes the viewer's perception. The drawing wraps around the panel this feeling isn't just on the surface it wraps around everything. I don't make "political art" but my work could reflect this ongoing feeling of anger that is unabetted.
Drawing two is So many lies to unravel. When starting this drawing I thought about what marks I make that would lend themselves to a narrative based on my vocabulary. The lines I draw that also can be used in measurements also can be considered threads. The ground color I chose was the inverse of the first piece. In this case I used a yellow as the base and the magenta as the lines. I becan to think about the weaving drawings I made recently; this fabric created by lines.
Again I wrapped around and embraced more than the surface. The second series of threads overlapped and created a patch of cloth that could be unraveled by making it's ends visable. That brought my title to fruition and the drawing embraced the idea of threads being unraveled. The most red place in the drawing is the center patch.