Saturday, March 7, 2009

Grapes: "On It's Way to Wine"


I've just completed this piece to show at the Elliot Gallery at Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation which begins on March 19th. This is a group show featuring five artists who all use natural and organic materials to create their art.
I am pleased with the piece on which I chose to use my Japanese signature since it was inspired by the Sumi-e style that I so love. I spent a good long time trying to decide where the right placement was and finally decided based on the idea that it should be a part of the composition. I considered placing it in the lower right but felt that it became too large a part of the overall piece and deflected the focus. I didn't want the signature to take the eye away from the image and I feel I have accomplished that.
Let me explain my Japanese signature. I wanted to be able to occassionaly use a caligraphic signature on my Sumi-e and Hairlock Paintings. I ended up researching websites that offered name translations though I can't remember which one I used. My name, Gale is spelled so that it means a "strong wind" so the characters used mean just that!
大風 The symbols you see at left have not reproduced accurately in that the cross lines that look squiggly on the second character are meant to be horizontal but not uneven, however you get the idea.
I haven't decided how I will hang this piece for the show since I feel it is one that should be framed but framing this piece in Bermuda means that it is too large to easily transport back to Maine for my next show. So it will remain unframed for now.

I still have lots I want to do to prepare for the show but things are moving along well in spite of myself :-)

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