Daily Practice 53/365

 

Title: "Copper Vessels"

(Click on image to see larger)

I made these decorative small copper bowls in a workshop a number of years ago. I remember taking the workshop with a couple of fellow printmaking friends, and we really got into the possibilities of etching unique patterns on the surface of the copper after it had been shaped. A week-long workshop can be a stimulating environment with the right mix of people - it's interesting to see the varied approaches other artists take to a project, so there is a sense of learning far more than you would learn in a one on one instructional situation. I had the same experience in riding lessons - I preferred group lessons because I found I would always learn as much or more from watching other people do an exercise as I would riding the exercise myself.

I like the way the copper catches light and intensifies it. In deciding to make this image with a slit lens, I wanted to see the interplay between the darker, "drawn" tones that define the rims of the bowls, and the distortion of the reflected light. I find it interesting to see how the lines that define the bowls are actually more distinct in the smaller version of the image than they are in the larger version. The curved lines that intersect remind me of my interest in Richard Serra's sculptures, and there's an intriguing dialogue happening between those curves and the repeating pattern of vertical lines of reflected light that pass from the middle up towards the top right hand corner. The changing tones of those lines make me think of Monet's foggy bridge painting all over again.