Size Small

Along with delving deeper into research this semester the other major comment I received at the last residency was to find a way to make my lines more unique and less uniform. I created many simple sketches using ink droppers rather than an pen or brush, I am now adding collage elements into them.

I am also continuing with the idea of the double or in this case multiple interior spaces.

These drawings are all 8x10in - once again the first part of my semester is dominated a small scale.

Reading, Reading, Reading

This semester thus far has been occupied with a great deal of reading, which I have discovered seems to be my norm when beginning a new semester. I have been reading:

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Dracula - Bram Stoker
The Uncanny - Sigmund Freud
The Sandman - E.T.A. Hoffmann
Wonderful Blood: Theology and Practice in Late Medieval Northern Germany and Beyond - Bynum, Caroline Walker
Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abject - Julia Kristeva

Until yesterday the readings I have been doing seemed interesting but separate, suddenly after two days of consecutive and extensive reading things started to converge. It is becoming clear that I am interested in Perceptions of Reality. A Short list/very brief examples of some connections found thus far . . .

Freud's Uncanny - Individuals may perceive the uncanny based on their own experiences/personality/perceptions.

The Sandman - The uncertainty the reader feels between what is reality and what is a fabrication in the mind of the main character.

Wonderful Blood - In Blood based miracles such as in Wilsnack (one of the most famous cult sites in Europe due to three miraculous hosts which survived a devastating fire and appeared to have the blood of Christ on them) it is difficult to prove such miracles, which raises questions of wether the miracle ever took place, can it ever be proven, or if it took place in the mind of the man who saw it.

I am slowly making my way through Powers of Horror and will perhaps find if it to ties in to ideas surrounding perceptions of reality.

I recently re-watched my favorite movie The Shining and as always was struck by the inside angles of the Overlook Hotel. In a print created in undergrad I played with the image of a fictional room in slightly distorted head on perspective. I began to make several of these drawings as "backgrounds" or "stages," places for future action to take place. In creating the same background over and over again (through drawing not print) I am exploring (however loosely) ideas associated with Freud's uncanny - the idea of the double or doppelgänger as well as the idea of a spontaneous return to the same location through different means.

These are in very beginning stages as I intend to cut out the painted shapes from the Mylar. I am wondering as always do they need more. I feel that they are missing the layer of drawn cartoon, or perhaps that the room needs more detail or to be painted. . . .

En experiment possibly too referential or simplistic or even too close to my earlier work. 

The following images were created on the new paper discussed in my last post which is made out of stone. I find them interesting and like that I have the potential to draw right into them or cut them out. However I miss being able to turn them over and see a new dimension on the other side. 

New Semester New Experiments

A fellow M.F.A. candidate recently recommended trying this alternative type of paper made of stones. The ink, water and other materials are not absorbed into it allowing for similar effects to my previous works on mylar. The benefit is that I am able to draw on top of and under the paint. These are some initial experiments with the new paper.

Involving figurines in work is something that I have wanted to try out for a long time, here are two experiments with pouring ink and enamel with toys from my childhood.