Deep In The Foliage

Days past I might have considered this a rut. My standard routine has been to wildly vary the techniques I use, even when working from the same series of photographs. The result is that my portfolio has hundreds of works, with only a few of them similar enough to exhibit together. In those days past, I believed repeating techniques to be a weakness. In these days now, I believe not having a series of works in consistent techniques to be a weakness.

I’d started bending in recent times, but limited it to three or four similar works, tops, and even then there were variations. I bent a lot in my recently completed tornado series (yeah, there’s a pun there I’m trying to avoid) because it seemed there was only one appropriate way to depict the carnage. Now, it’s raindrops. Again, there’s a vision I’m going for and there are specific techniques I’m using to get there. The result is a half dozen works that coexist on the same wall in synergy greater than the sum of its parts.

I don’t THINK I’m moving away from the single, one of a kind statement that constitutes most of my portfolio. I don’t THINK I’ll become predisposed to repeat the same identifiable techniques over and over in a mass marketing frenzy (babies in flowers). I THINK I’ve learned to carry a vision across a broader pallet.

​But I’ve been wrong before.