Those Rotten Boughs Have Pierced My Heart
This was the first time making gum bichromate prints. I decided to keep the frame around the prints so that you can actually see the layered, painted process. I've also attached the portions of poetry that each piece represents.
So. I have several bags and boxes devoted strictly to notes of whatever on napkins, receipts, flyers; magazine articles, etc. Why? Because at the time I either wanted to do research on something, listen to that band I heard on the radio at the coffee shop, or that phrase that I overheard sounded like something I could incorporate into poetry or art. I have collected years of inspiration. Lately, I've been going through the bags and slowly dealing with the bulk...while still adding to it.
This series is based on four poems I've had stashed away since college that were written by Sir Thomas Wyatt. The first three are portions of The Lover Describeth His Being Stricken with Sight of His Love, the 4th is I Find no Peace, 5th The Lover Waxeth Wiser, and Will Not Die for Affection, and the final scene is part of Farewell Love and All Thy Laws for Ever.
Upon reading the seemingly unrelated poems, I rearranged them several times and finally saw the story they told. The narrator is blinded by their new love, realizes that the fall may be deadly, destroys themself in the process, and eventually gains the courage to abandon the unhealthy relationship. The concept sounded so generic, so I decided to make the person be in love with an idea/image rather than an actual person and bam- my series about someone's unhealthy and unrealistic view of making it big in Hollywood came forth. I always revert back to my love/hate relationship with LA- but I'm an LA native, so I give myself permission to feel that way.
