3/25/21

 I'm making progress on the big drawings and I am hoping to have them done by next Tuesday, though we will see how far I get. The first one took me around 10 hours, maybe more. I think I am going to paint the wall behind it green, since there is no color in the piece itself, so I have a handful of paint cards that I am considering. 

Right now I'm leaning towards the darker of the one on the left. I may do something more on the wall behind it but I am going to focus on finishing the panels first.

As for the laser-cut project, I did go look for old boxes but I couldn't find anything reasonable that I liked so I think I am going to use shadowbox-type frames instead. I also think I might layer glass in-between each panel. I should be able to get at least 12 glass frames in each box with the ones I have been looking at. The final size for each of the three parts is going to be 8"x8". With the glass layering I may also be able to play with a bit of color painted on the glass itself.

I liked the idea of reversing the science papers and cutting them out so that the words are on the back, then finding a way to install a light in the back of the frame.

For a third wall, likely the one with the door on it, I want to do a series of small drawings of each plant. Each plant will have a set of three of these: one quick sketch with my notes, one more extensive sketch, and one small painting. This might be where the idea of using specimen pins could come in cause that could also help with varying the display cause by the end I will have 24 small drawings to place.

I likely will do something similar with the birds, though they may have a few more parts to them just cause I find them more interesting. This will depend on time, though.

The last wall is the one that I haven't fully decided what to do with yet. I know I definitely want to do something with scientific papers so I have been working on collecting ones on this system and particularly on extinctions. I think this one could be interesting to go back to the idea of cutting out extinct species and playing with silhouettes but I think there needs to be more to it than just that. I could make the other birds out of the scraps but I'm not sure how sold I am on that idea.

3/4/21

My two sketching pages with the basics of the plants and the birds.

The four bird species - I am not committed to these poses but it was certainly helpful for mapping out where each plant type should go and I will continue working with how to use the plants to show the natural coloration patterns of the birds.

I found panels on Dick Blick that I may order this week, if I decide to do the birds separately from each other. The more I look at the wood the more I am tempted to try wood burning. I am ordering a kit, which should get here this week, and I will experiment on some scrap wood. I still have almost 300 dollars on my grant for purchasing supplies so panels are within my budget.

If I do the birds on separate panels, this is likely what it would look like.

If I do the birds more as a single piece, this was the arrangement that I like the most though it was kind of awkward with four birds.

Hi Terri,

So I would place one bird on a format versus all of them on one.  Give them their space.  Also the sticks to perch on work better than having the bird float on the paper without anything to hold onto/context.

So when I speak to students about materials, we talk about:

•  the materials as driving the content- using paper that is from invasive plant species to speak about invasive species and what they do to our environment, for example
• the materials imply being a tool to express the content

It is up to you which direction you want to take this, though if you have never wood burned anything before, this may need time to master.

Do spend all of that money!

If you have ordered panels of a certain size, and I have that size, I could give you mine and you replace it when your panels arrive so you can get started. Or you start on nice paper, and then connect teh paper to the panels?  Let me know.

Also let me know if you want to meet today or if you would like to work.  You can text me as I am cleaning the studio today for tomorrows class.