Here the circular marks that make up the image have become dense. This is the point when I really begin to see unexpected things happening in the drawing. In this image, the unexpected is happening on two levels. On an abstract-geometric level, the smaller circles start clumping together to form larger circles. I don’t quite know what to call this, but I see it every day in the natural world. I’ve got a favorite book in the studio that is full of examples of this: Abstraction in Art and Nature, by Nathan Cabot Hale. On a representational level, the drawing has become complex enough that I begin to see images that I didn’t consciously intend. I get excited when this happens in an image.
This business of seeing the unexpected is way amplified by the reflective nature of the aluminum leaf. When the light changes, the image changes.
Watching the very short video on the post introducing the “Wanderer” series is a great way to understand what this looks like as the light changes.
