Monday, December 12, 2005

Squares and Dolly

It all started with a train ride to a job interview.
There was a lady sitting near me holding a purse with an "op art" design. It caught my eye, and when I got home I drew the basics of the design down for future use.

Artistic achievement to the contrary, I did not get the job.
I had done this pattern before, and remembered it as a series of squares and rectangles. The first version had 1x1 squares, 1x2 rectangles, and 2x2 squares.( This is units on a grid pattern. Full size, this is 1/2 " for one unit, 7/8" for two units, and 1 1/4" for 3 units, with 1/4", 7/16", and 5/8" for half size. This is the standard grid that I use to make pictures)
October 15 was the day I made the first drawing. I did not return until November 20. The first drawings on that date had circles and ovals instead of squares and rectangles, and later in the day I added 3 unit circles in the middle. I tweaked the number of circles in each row, until I got a ratio that looked right


Reversal was the next step. At first I had the small squares in the outer corners, working into the big squares in the center. It was a fairly simple matter to copy the parts I needed into the flip flop arrangement.





Thanksgiving was almost here, and it was time to make a model. This is a key step to any project, to build a half size model of the image, using the actual materials that will go in the final product. Two decisions were made at this point...to use the squares and rectangles, and to do two images at once. Instead of choosing between the big squares in the middle or the small squares in the middle, I chose to do both.


Holiday season is now upon us. As I finished the first two images of this series, the thought occurred to set this image at a 45 degree angle


Photographing these images today, I decided to photograph a pastel drawing
that has been in the living room as long as I can remember.It was drawn by Sarah Miller, who was my father's sister.
As I described it later:
There is a chalk drawing of a model named "Dolly". This image has been on the living room wall as long as I can remember. I have wanted to photograph it for a while.
Of course, after I got in the middle of the project, I realized why I had put it off. This thing was framed in 1951, or thereabouts, and taking it out of the wrapping and pulling the glass out was a delicate affair.



50west02 was photographed last summer when Graham was in town. I am told this is where the Miller family lived, although I was a kid and don't remember.


Westminster Drive was fondly remembered:
Hi and thanks- this was done by mother when she took a pastel class at the High Museum of Art. I remember that picture. My how nice our old house looks. The tree of the left replaced an old Oak tree that my father always told us children was there when the Indians were there.
Kit

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