Solo Chronicles: Final Installment

Organic Perspectives: The Fern Series is printed and installed at East Bay Sotheby’s!
Now it’s time to catch you up.
In Solo Chronicles: Third Installment, I shared some of the objects I created from the scans I made (Second Installment), which were inspired by my trip to Fort Ross (First Installment). From the resulting work it’s obvious that my favorite object was the “fern,” which is featured in the final series.
Beginning a composition can be problematic when working analog (with physical materials, like paint on canvas, pencil on paper, etc); the blank canvas stares back, daring you to make a commitment (or a mistake!). This really isn’t a problem when working digitally, because anything can be changed. And if I’m not sure I want to change it, I can just duplicate the file. Therefore inhibitions really aren’t a problem.
Interestingly, the exact opposite is true… it’s more about “anything goes” and “what if?” So much can be changed at any point, that the options can take me in many different directions with the same image. As new possibilities are presented, the work leads me where it wants to go. Responding to ideas, rather than having a preconceived notion, allows me to make discoveries (and have a lot of fun exploring!).
The only down-side to this process is the massive amount of work produced. Conservatively, there are over 125 images in this series (not counting objects made). Certainly, not all 125 images are good enough to be shown… but many of them were used to make more artwork with.
Here are some examples of explorations that came early in the process, testing color palettes and combing objects.

Then I develop some compositions, focusing on the balance of objects, how they relate to each other, foreground/background issues, etc.

The final part of the process combines previous results. In some cases it is easy to see the mashing, while in others it is a subtle complication, which might require a keen eye to detect the sources.