I've been working on trying to develop three dimensional paintings in transparent layers for quite some time now. It seems like a natural extension of my painting style, and in my mind's eye I can see wonderful interplay between the separated layers. I began this work at an artist residency at Playa funded by the Ford Family Foundation.
I love this work. It is beautiful and opens the door for a more sculptural approach. My first attempts are wall hung paintings on glass. They are multiple sheets of glass slid into grooves in a deep frame. But there are some serious technical problems that need solving before I can go forward with them. I've put them on the back burner for quite some time until I can figure out where I want to go from here. They are really too heavy and fragile to be wall hung as I had planned. My first attempt is called Playa Sunrise. I Painted the bird and sky on the rear wooden panel, then monoprinted a ghost image of the bird on the second glass sheet. It is between two sheets of painted tree images from outside my cabin at Playa.
After I encountered the technical problems I mentioned, I decided to begin on my other strategy for 3-D work by making free-standing paintings. This would let me use many more layers and would be totally open to the light and 360 degrees of viewing. I tried one with tempered glass and one on plexi. The challenge on the glass was getting the paint to solidly adhere to the glass. With plexi that wasn't a problem but it scratches so easily. I am finally finishing the glass piece and I am challenged by the right glue to hold the layers permanently in place. It's a glass to wood bond, but I've found a glue and plan to glue today. I have to go forward before I'll see how it will all hold up, so I am plunging into the test. I am hoping to use this technique for a new project I'm working on in relationship to fresh water resources. I call this piece The Heart Of The Matter.
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