Two new Angels in Mourning and a day with Virginia Saunders

(Above: Sweetly Sleeping, Angels in Mourning Series. Framed: 37 1/2" x 29". Paper: 30" x 22 1/2". Xylene photo transfer, found objects, hand stitching. Click on images to enlarge.)

Earlier in the week two more pieces in the "Angels in Mourning Series" were completed. Selecting snippets of handwriting, scraps of lace, vintage buttons, and neglected snapshots from an old photo album bought at an auction feels like creating a narrative or leaving a few clues to some unknown identity. Stitching through the paper requires careful concentration and a delicate hand....which also feels appropriate for suggesting some long-since-gone life.

I'm planning approximately ten more pieces before the February exhibition. Yet, my mind is thinking about all sorts of other, related work that I might like to try after the initial show....like photo montages and artists books. To this end, I spent yesterday in a high tech studio situated in a wonderful, rural setting....Viriginia (Ginnie) Saunders "photo shop lab". (Ginnie has some exotic geese and three black swans on her private pond and a large new, tiled studio being constructed in a separate building on her forested property.....a slice of heaven!)

I've seen her work before but at the last South Carolina State fair I was positively driven to arrange a "lesson"....a day to watch Ginnie in front of her gigantic computer screen making subtle, transparent layers between assembled images that result in a surreal environment that evokes a sense of spirituality, a touch of history, and breath-taking beauty. Yesterday was the day. I'm still digesting all the ideas, tips, software, and organizational skills that I witnessed. Without a doubt, something from yesterday will figure into future work.


(Above: Lamentation, Angels in Mourning Series. Framed: 37 1/2" x 29". Paper: 30" x 22 1/2". Xylene photo transfer, found objects, hand stitching. Click on images to enlarge.)