inkjet transfers have been a fascination of mine for years. i've never really mastered it to a point where i'm comfortable using it in my work until this earlier this year. for a long while i was drawing all the time, like everyday and accumulations of these drawings that are just doodle-y swirls starting creeping into every crevice of clutter in my house and studio. and with the move, i sort of decided that something's got to give. i need to use these "spider webs" as zander refers to them, and incorporate them somehow in something. usually i scan and they are the foundation for my digital collages. great, i've got like 4,317 of these things - digitally i can't keep up. so i cut back on drawing and never really resolved a way to de-clutter our space of these little artworks, however, i have begun to use digitally rendered drawings in other ways. they are the foundation of my new favorite mixed media pieces. i've been using a 4 different drawings, all cut up into thumbnails as a transfer onto canvas boards. the thumbnail is the departure point for a sort of painting collage. these pieces give me a great sense of release when making them as they fulfill my interest in transfer techniques, they indulge my new love for gouache and finally satisfy my obsession with shiny, gooey surfaces which i seem to stumble upon in many local and contemporary artist's work.
what is most interesting to me is how one little drawing which is replicated 5 or 6 times can inspire a vast array of outcomes within a series. it's one of those things that i just don't see myself becoming bored with for a while.
i love the scale too. they're small yet in a series of 3 or 4, they have the potential to be a respectable size. i'm playing around with how to present them and i've sort of fallen for mounting them on a board and framing them in with small 1/2" wood. i think it gives a finished looked, but more importantly gives each the space they need on their own without cramping them with their siblings. oooh la la.
the best discovery yet, Zander and Desi LOVE to paint with me, even better! here's a shot of the older concentrating on his own process of mixing colors
