Here's a photo I took several days ago of the agave plants. Now I think you can see that the flower stalks have grown as high as the roofline, or so it seems from our angle. And there are branches off to the sides that will support the flowers when they finally bloom. They seem to have grown quickly, but it does seem as though quite a lot of time has gone by since we first noticed the sprouts. It will be interesting to see how long the actual process takes. And I suppose, like the changing of the trees, the time period depends partly on the amount of sun, heat, and water that the plants receive. Today is a little gloomy, although as I sit here and look out my studio windows and door, it does seem the sun is coming out.
Yesterday I went to the printmaking class and then came back to the Village to transcribe the minutes from the monthly regular board meeting. We have several issues brewing here at the Village, and I wanted to get the minutes done as soon as possible, while the events of Monday's meeting were still fresh in my mind.
We had a critique at school, each of us in the more advance section of the printmaking class presenting our works in progress. When I presented what I have done so far, the comments I received concerned my choice of colors and the placement of my subject matter. I love etchings and pencil drawings. I always have. However, I admit, that when I see the paintings that people here create, I tend to be seduced by all the bright colors. I like color.
And color is tricky in etchings. The inks themselves are traditionally not very bright. And I'm not excited about black ink on stark white paper. However, it occurs to me that I could use black ink on tan paper. I might like that. The professor and my classmates agreed that they preferred the darker colors that I had chosen compared to the lighter ones. Originally when I was going to my friend's house to use his printer, I was printing on Reeves tan paper using Indian Red ink. The color is quite striking.
Another issue I have personally with my own etchings is that when they hang on the wall, sometimes they sort of "disappear" until you get up close to them. I'd like to create ones that are strong and eye catching from across the room and then reveal more detail as you walk closer. And actually, I now think I can do that. I have tended to use patterns to fill in areas of space. And the closer together and the more lines there are, the darker the area will be. All the lines will hold the ink. So now, I think I need to begin thinking about how I fill in each area with pattern so that the dark areas create a pleasing composition from a distance as well as close up. I need to plan the pattern rather than just randomly putting it anywhere.
The other comment my professor made had to do with a comment he's made to me many times in the past. He has repeatedly said that my images tend to be floating in the rectangular space of the plate and are not anchored. He says that's not necessarily a bad thing, but he keeps bringing it up. He says the images look as though they are planned for the space and at occasionally when the images do bleed off the edges, the effect is more dramatic, more interesting. Yes, I agree with that. Nowadays, if you look even in magazines or on television, you see closeups of people's faces with portions cut off. You don't see a person's whole head, just a shot of their eyes and mouth maybe. The idea is that you are zeroing in on the important part and also that your eye can fill in the rest. So, I'm thinking of making a change in that respect as well. I will look at my drawings and then "crop" them.
When I create drawings to be used on bracelets, I don't concern myself with creating a self-contained piece. I just draw and the lines go all the way to the edge of the plate and theoritically continue on into infinity. Certainly if I'm going to create plant life, it continues on into infinity, unless it's planted in a container, the way the plants here in the Village are.
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