8 x 10″ pinholes on paper
Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days
Trees and clouds and ground below
Blocks with rounded edges
Snap together like Legos
As rain falls
Between plastic joints
8.5 x 11″ watercolor on paper with pinholes
Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days
Some of you may know I have recently become a bit obsessed with creating images from pinholes. I’ve worked smaller scale, larger scale, abstract and realistic, and each time I feel pretty pleased with the result. Yesterday was the first day that left me wondering.
I decided a few days ago that I wanted to create a portrait using pinholes, so I took a stab at it. My feelings on the finished piece are mixed. I can’t say I don’t like it, but it just doesn’t seem to be hitting the nail on the head. Part of me feels like I should have gone a bit more hog wild with the pinholes. Part of me thinks I should have avoided using color (see below) – or at least not used it to help establish form. Maybe the pinhole approach naturally lends itself better to abstraction. Who knows? I guess more experimentation is the only real way to figure it out.
18 x 24″ Watercolor and pinholes on paper
Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days
The other night after my grandma passed away, my sister sent me the following piece of writing and asked if I could do something with it. I absolutely loved what she wrote and was easily inspired. Because her poetry invoked very concrete images, my interpretation is rather literal. I did, however, decide I wanted to abstract that imagery. I may add some more of the brighter blues down the road, but not just yet. I love this piece – probably for more than one reason.
By: Gail Richardson
Gone
Mostly, I remember her voice.
I don’t remember what she said.
I could guess, or try to conjure up what someone else might say they remember.
I just recall the sound.
I don’t know what I would do with
Grandma’s recorded voice –
Except that it wouldn’t be
Gone.
Not “smooth” or “silky” –
Almost crackly-
But not a cackle.
A zillion sand-sized bubbles
Popping in succession
The flicking and clicking of cards shuffled
Only quicker
And soft
And pushed through a voice,
Or a laugh,
Or a sharp stinging comment.
Air and water
Shushed
Through a faucet
Only coarser
And more
Abrupt.
Words of hers,
(I can’t say which ones),
Jagging briskly over
Fine cracks in my imagination.
Silvery scribbles
Slipping
Off the margins,
And I try to reel them back
Onto pages I can keep.
8 x 10″ paper with pinholes
This image might look familiar to some of you. I created it as a Valentines card a week or so ago. Typically I wouldn’t re-visit the exact same imagery in a new piece of art, but I felt I had sufficient reason to.
The gallery where I have my studio put out a call for entries for their Heart Art show. The theme is not one in which I would typically enter a piece, but because I am trying to be as active as possible in the shows here, I thought I’d give it a go. I chose to repeat this image for two reasons 1. I liked the humor and the fact that I was depicting a human heart. 2. I wanted to work on a pinhole image that allowed me to focus on creating form
I’m pretty happy with the result. I’m hoping the gallery goers will be too.
Day 261 18 x 34, Pierced paper
Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days
Composed of sticks and twigs and loose paper found blowing down a city street
The quiet nest sits empty
Not entirely purpose-less
Its intricate twines twist with confidence and beauty – an abandoned sculpture with potential beyond its delicate facade
Waiting for life to once again occupy its hearty, rounded floor
For the crane to care
About the potential of its winged kind
To fly another time
3 x 5″ paper with pinholes
Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days
There is a place lined with little streets and tiny houses
Where large trees grow
Whose roots feel their way through cool, damp dirt
Twisting and knotting
Fracturing cement slabs that were unaware of their presence
Linking the world below
3 x 5″ paper with pinholes
Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days
As I tried to figure out what I could complete for my daily project, I came across a lovely picture a friend had taken of pine trees covered in snow. Because I was still in pinhole mode, I decided creating a winter tree might be a good challenge. This small piece is what I came up with. While not my typical subject matter, it did let me work on my technique a bit more. So far, I’m loving the process and am ready to finish up one of these on a larger scale.
5 x 8″ paper with pinholes
Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days
I began working on a larger scale piece yesterday in which I planned to incorporate thread. As I started stitching into the work though, the effect was not as I had hoped. I was going for more of an organic feel and wound up with – as should have been expected – very geometric lines. As I removed the thread from the paper I began to take notice of the small holes that remained. I thought they were wonderful and so added more to a few points around the paper. Suddenly it dawned on me that I could create an entire design solely by poking holes.
I pulled out a smaller piece of paper and after a few hours, ended up with this piece. I love the subtlety of it. As a viewer you are forced to get in close to see what has been created. Beyond that, there is a really great texture that results from the needle piercing the paper. I also love that nothing has been removed or added to the paper to create this piece of art. I feel like larger scale versions are on the horizon.
Micah Richardson 