Monday, May 15, 2023

Flow

I consider 'Flow' to be among my favorite works. It was also among the hardest. Not the hardest technically. What made it hard was keeping the lines smooth and flowing over such a large area. I did another version of this design the following day with a slightly different fill. 


It did not work out- in a couple of spots the curves did not feel right. In particular the largest curving form has a few curves that are a bit too steep. It throws the whole design off. 

My inspiration for the design was a book of Japanese brushwork. I wanted to replicate the feeling of brushwork flowing water. I used a previous aerial photo of the area to develop the design, having it weave amongst the boulders on the beach, making it feel as though the artwork were interacting with, or at least responding to, the physicality of the beach. 

But when working over such a large area, walking hundreds of feet in a gentle curving motion, my only guides were the features of the beach and the other lines far from me. The flowing curves of the photo make me think of an actor who seems to actually be having an experience, only to find out they had to replicate the act multiple times in front of a large crew under strange circumstances. I mean to say that 'Flow' was articifial- there was no real flow in the making of it. Yes, each curve has its flow, and I was able to get the various curves to flow together to feel unified as part of the same movement of something, but it was an act of technical skill and body sense. I feel lucky to have pulled off and captured this design as nicely as I did. 

So from both an aesthetic and technical work, this is among my favorites.


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