Vivien gets Close

Vivien's work is so wonderful that I am privileged to premier her work in this exchange. In this Moley she's depicted a number of things; a feather, the coast, and trees. On the back of the pages is written "....the edges, where one thing becomes another, clearly defined or lost edges......"

First, her feather is drawn in minute detail with a technical pen. The fine lead has allowed her to draw each individual strand, which would have been near impossible with a regular pencil even with repeated sharpening. Some areas are fine, some whispery, it looks like if you blew on it it'd float off the page.

Next she transforms a view of her local coast from a standard landscape to an abstract view. I remember reading about Monet's waterlilies being revolutionary at the time because he cropped the view.

Here is her close study of trees and bark. There are greys and purples and ochres in there, and I think she's scratched into it. I keep discovering things each time I open it up. It's just wonderful to see. In fact, I think this would look great tree-sized, maybe eight feet tall. It was hard to capture the texture and the subtlety of colours in this photo. In fact, Vivien's written to one side, so I'm wondering if it's meant to be viewed from the side? Maybe it's both, because both angles look great in the flesh so I've posted two photos for you to see and decide. These Moleys are damn tricky to photograph, don't you think?

I have painted my interpretation of Close in it now, and I'm ready to post it on. Here's a half inch piece of it. Next on the list would be Casey, but if we want to mix it up a bit, there's still Lindsay and Brian yet to work in it. So shout out whoever wants it next and I'll pop it in the post.