"The Dauphin"

So now, at four months into my residency here at the McColl Center, I finally have new work to share! This and the following post show two recently completed works that I am really happy with.

A few new things to note about this work:

• The found objects I use, which are stitched directly to the surface of the drawings, are becoming much more integrated into the overall surface design. In fact, they even seem to disappear into clusters of shapes and colors when I look the piece here on my blog. Here's a challenge blog viewers: This drawing has three found objects attached to the surface, can you find them?

• Letters and text are making a strong comeback in my work after a hiatus that lasted about two years. I am now scribbling and scrawling bits of thought on the page as part of my initial sketch process when I lay out a composition. A lot of this writing gets buried under subsequent layers of acrylic wash and colored pencil drawing, but now I am allowing more of it to resurface and influence how I develop and think about the final piece.

• I am feeling good about the way all the elements, both formal (color, shape, texture...) and conceptual (the heads derived from portrait busts, the stream of consciousness writing, the found objects...) integrate in this new work. It feels like these different components are in conversation with each other in a much more successful way than in the past: nothing is too jarring, but it also maintains the ruptured aesthetic of collage. The final work doesn't fall into an overdetermined, uniform sameness. I like that these pieces also show the marks of their own making, that they are complete without being over polished or surface obsessive, which is a trap that I often fall into...