working

So I think starting tomorrow, this is what I’ll do: I’m going to work on “regular” (ie, 2-d) drawings in the morning and slowly get the book done in the evening, rather than try and keep spending all day, every day working on the book. There’s a lot of wasted time when I just focus solely on the book, as drying times take forever and honestly, my patience runs thin after a few hours. I think this might be a more sensible approach and that also, we’re at a point now where I can afford to slow down and obsess over every last detail (actually, that’s what will make or break this project, I think - it’s all about the details, and it’s easier to let stuff like that float into your mind over time rather than try and jam it out all at once).

You have no idea how much I want to get back to doing some flat drawings and writing again!! Ok, where exactly I’m going to do this, I’m not sure since the book can’t be moved at this point, but I’ll make it work somehow…

Today I primarily laid down the railroad tracks - about 7 or 8 feet of them.

They start at the factory and then travel off the page, literally down to the ground en route to their station, during which they pass through a section of landscape that is based on the NJ marshlands.

I also strung up electricity (something I started a few days ago and had to take a break because it was driving me nuts with the tiny little threads) which connects most of the left hand side of the book together, but that isn’t very photogenic (actually, everything I’ve been doing for the last few days hasn’t been too photogenic, which is why no updates. What I have planned for Sunday should make for some nice photos, though).

I got a lot done today and man, I am exhausted. But I’m finally at the point where I’m seeing it all come together, instead of just flying on blind faith (thank goodness).

I have a bunch more ready to go, but they haven’t been placed yet:

Jeff asked, “Will there be smoke coming from the smoke stack?” But of course.

I think I will be able to get the whole left hand side of the book done this week (I think) and be able to return to single drawings next week as a break, and then back to the book. Maybe. I think.

It actually goes across a two-page spread…

…is measured in slow, small increments… or something like that.

Nothing too exciting to report today, but things are moving along:

This is an attempt to put together a bit of an FAQ surrounding the massive book that I’m building (see Building the Book part one, part two, and part three to get the background on the piece). It’s in response to some of the questions I’ve been getting and also some that I anticipate as this project goes on. If there’s something I don’t address here that you’re curious about, please let me know!

How big is the book when it’s closed?
About 10 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches, the size of an Artforum magazine. There will be a third dimension there - a thickness - that I will have to add once the project is completed as I don’t really know what it is just yet, but I anticipate it being around 4″ thick.

How big is it when it’s totally opened?
I don’t know just yet because it’s not finished and I’m letting the project evolve organically, as best I can. I hope it will be around 20 - 30 feet wide, but we’ll have to see. Currently (and I haven’t updated the pics on this site yet) it’s about 6′ wide and absolutely nowhere near being done.

Does your book really pop up completely from this small, closed thing to its full size?
Yes! No… wait… no. Not at all. Or rather: I wish. While I’ve been referring to it as a pop up book, that description is actually a misnomer. It’s actually a book that is made using a variety of book-making techniques, among them pop-ups and accordion-folds, and but also requires the concentration of the reader to assemble tiny little parts together. Those little parts all fit into a pouch at the end of the book and are part of the overall “package” of it when it is closed. (I’m thinking here a bit about those Japanese candy toys and other objects from kid popular culture that call upon the child involved to have the patience of a saint to put together, but - when assembled - resemble this entire world that had been living in a simple little box.)

While it doesn’t pop-up per se, it does un-assemble down to this very small object (the size of the book when closed, ie 10 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches). I fully admit that it is an unruly thing that would be completely impractical if it were mass manufactured… but that was never the point. It’s a work of art, a one-of-a-kind, so it can have its own rules.

Are you making a video of the book being assembled?
In theory, yes - although it should be noted that I lack basic equipment needed to do such a thing, including a camera(!). But in order to properly document it, I’ll have to make a video… but that’s a little while away.

Wait - won’t this thing totally take over your apartment? How are you going to be able to function with this thing there?
Yeah. That’s sort of a mystery.

Have Oswald or Squinky discovered the book yet?
Thank god, no. Generally speaking, although they are really ill-behaved in every other way, they leave my studio stuff alone. My fingers are crossed that this will hold true.

Ok, experimenting with posting things on flickr and then blogging from there… I’ve done it before but honestly I forgot if it worked well or not! My plan is that if you click on it, you ought to be able to get to a readable version and if so, this will be my plan in terms of posting drawings here from now on.

I worked so hard all weekend getting this one project done, with the promise to myself that I would start out today by posting it (yes, I know it’s corny - but I got all excited) and then I realized…

Oh, right. Today is the day I get to pick up the super expensive camera from school.

Our department ordered a bunch of equipment for next semester, including these cameras which are really amazing and take fantastic photos… except that since school is now out, there is no one to use them. So yay, I get to take one home for the summer and use it to take photos that are better than the ones I’ve been taking (one assumes). And it really makes a lot more sense for me to document this project that I busted my ass getting done on the really good camera which I will get later this afternoon, rather than do it on my older, cheaper model this morning.

Well, duh. Ok, more soon…

I’ve been working on a series of drawings on toned ground and, of course, the first one ready to post is the bleakest and most depressing. Naturally, it’s also my favorite drawing in a while. If it makes matters any better, the girl holding the scissors is coming to save the girl tied to the chair, not to chop her in little bits… although I definitely made that ambiguous.

The toned ground is amazing to work on - I always thought I wasn’t the kind of artist that did that sort of thing and, well, that was that. But it brings out all these different qualities of the watercolor and ink which - in my case - means it also brings out a different angle of the narrative I’m unfolding (the images drive the story and the story drives the images, back and forth like that). Just the fact that white becomes a presence rather than an absence - that’s major. Now I’m coming up with a whole bunch of new ideas…

(p.s. wow, I guess it’s something with the toned ground? but the image of this on the site is looking pretty blurry. The scan I made of it is as clean as a whistle; not sure why when it goes on the web all the sharpness is lost.)

Ok, after a ridiculously long weekend, I finally got all the trees in the forest up and standing and sturdy and everything they have to be. They look awesome! Now I just have to clean up around here so that I can take a picture and move on to the next step… stay tuned.