I’ve made two entries about Orquevaux and the studios. I was going to post a ton of prints today but I think I will spread out my postings so that different types of work will be able to be seen in a more selective presentation.
I made two suites of small drawings/prints, the “World Atlas” and the “Orquevaux Suite”. Each of them could be expanded or repeated.
The first suite is a series of ink drawings painted on maps found in a 1960s French World Atlas. There is a fine white line on each drawing made by a “sharpie”-like ball point pen.
I cut out all of the maps and made an individual drawing of an “Imaginary vase” on each sheet. All of the “French” maps have been completed (20 or so?). I still have the rest of the world’s maps to complete. I am unsure whether I should maintain the same format or else to use a different color of ink for them. I also would exhibit them as one “suite” of works, not as individual pieces.
The process of making these was very immediate. I do not recall any missteps or mistakes in making these. Each was spontaneously drawn on the map without prep work. The Maps are @ 10” x 6”.
I tried to be influenced by the space and design of each map. But, even though they all have good design and relate to the maps, I think that the successful relationships between figure and ground are happy accidents.
The “Imaginary Vase” above is one of ten trace prints that make up the “Orquevaux Suite.” I constantly am making images like this but this is the first time I have made a sustained effort to make a number of works that had the same format. (Perhaps I was influenced by the “World Atlas” series shown above). In this suite the drawings are fairly simple but have backgrounds painted in with watercolors. Each background has a different pattern and a different color. These pieces are @ 9” x 6”.
This is another trace print from the Orquevaux Suite.