Drawing as a source for making prints, Pronto Plate Litho and Collographs
STATEMENT
This series of work is about micro cosmos, the kind that is all around us but is often not possible for the eye to see in its intricate and microscopic detail. My subject matter is that which is seemingly insignificant, organic matters like weed; the bristles of dandelions, or the wonder of the iris of an eye.
I have come to be endlessly fascinated by the tiny in nature and in discovering how much information it holds with its complex structures and perplexing patterns. The challenge has also been to translate and make these drawings on a larger scale.
COVID-19 forced us all to quarantine but was beneficial in this sense being able the course and focusing on the project.
It began as a test to myself whether I could find a way to draw that which the eye could not see.
By using the manual enlarging functions on an older iPad as an aid enables me to actually see the microscopic details. The drawing tools I’m using are basic such as graphite pencils and an eraser on paper of the size of 22 x 30” or larger.
Since I am restricted viewing the entirety of the image it prevents me from having a preset idea of what I am seeing which forces me to slow down and explore, not to make assumptions and allow my eye to travel and explore into this miniature world of a biotic cosmos, using a tiny weed or plant tissue.
During the process what I see starts to look both strangely familiar and unknown and often reminds me of other shapes and patterns in nature and also of manmade ones. Geometric shapes and structures found in architecture comes to mind, and design and science that is inspired by nature
That our natural and ecosystem is a complex and fragile world this I knew but the ongoing project has made me, and I hope the viewer even more acutely aware of this.