Not too long ago, Dan and I found ourselves reminiscing our time at MSU. I asked him if he regretting anything, and he said he didn't. Dan then asked me the same question. I unfortunately did.
It was summer semester of 2008 and I was in Drawing II with one of my favorite professors. Michelle was the caliber of professor that saw past the work you were creating and into what you 'could' be creating. She was full of wisdom and advice that I tried to take in, but my mind was cluttered. It was summer, I was a few weeks away from a summer in Austria and I was utterly unfocused. I felt myself falling short, which then caused me to step back further away from my work. There was so much potential in that class and though I was trying to grasp at it - the majority of it slipped through my fingers. I'll probably always regret letting that class pass me by, instead of addressing it with the fervor I should have.
Cut to a few years later, I found myself replaying some of Michelle's pointers to me as I worked. Caught off guard, I stopped working and began to examine the memories I had from Drawing II. Thankfully I possess a pretty reliable cache of college, (though I am not quite sure how I managed that!) and I found myself rocked.
Suddenly, everything I was trying to do had an answer. Everything I was feeling at that moment had a root and the root was buried deep in something I remembered from that class. Something that had not quite sunk in during drawing II, was suddenly brought to life. I can't quite explain the exact sensation other than the cliche, 'click!'. In a whirlwind of paint, paper, gel and brushes I started redoing old projects, looking at old work, rethinking old problems. And transfers... I had forgotten about transfers.
Michelle had suggested I play with transfers, (using gel medium to transfer a toner-based image to another surface) and I started to during that class - but never appreciated the process. Until now.
This week alone I have probably made about 10 various transfer paintings as I experiment with the process and materials. Each one takes about a day to fully complete and each one is a bit of an adventure.
This owl was one of the first experiments. I used an opaque gold acrylic in the background, which falls a bit flat in the scan. The paints for the owl itself needed to be mixed with a bit more gel medium as well, but as an experiment goes - I'm happy with it.
In the end, I guess having a regret isn't always a bad thing. Looking back on the situation and seeing where I fell short was the impetus to stumble into my current position and I'm grateful for that at least. I'll be honing my transfer process for the next few months and am very excited for the images in my head to finally have a home!
