DIGITAL SKETCHBOOK...

Sunday, 11 April 99 -- 6 p.m.

Project No.213 - THE MATRIX

Grid Sketches - 9 pages - 290k
As far as I'm aware, only the title of this project owes to the current boxoffice sensation. The rest was inspired by yesterday's trip to the Santa Fe art colony. (Santa Fe AVENUE, that is, Downtown LA)

Wendy and I went to visit Ayenne, Jett, Laurel, et. al. at their annual artwalk. Sadly Therman doesn't hang there anymore.

In the vendor zone I was sad that CKS wasn't there with a sale on some huge canvas or another. Penthouse was there, but only with medium and small sizes. Then I noticed this big stack of small squares for really cheap...

Of course I got excited and thought about doing a MagnaGrid portrait. So today I've made some grids and then applied the geometry to an Aniston photo I had lying around. I wouldn't actually paint this image - I'd use the grid for one of my new Californium subjects - but it'd be good for getting a sense of the geometry, of how the window worked.

You see jpg's of one "grid" and one "window" here. The pdf's got 6 "grids" and 3 "windows." I tried 5x5, 4x4, and 3x3 square grids and then some dubious rectangular grids. Actually the rectangles aren't bad, it's just that the squares are so electrifying. As the more symmetrical, they should be more static, but you don't get that sensation.

Perhaps the symmetry lets the positive space ease off and the eye can run down the alleys of the negative space. I'm not sure, but some real energy's commin' from somewhere!

I like all 3 square grids, but the 4x4 is especially nice.

In applying the grid as a window I find the same dichotomy as with the Magnadott pattern geometry. Greater homage to the geometry leads to greater reduction of the subject matter. I really like a grid with wide aisles, but the image alignment becomes problematic if not impossible.

You're almost stuck with the 5x5 grid as the 4x4 and 3x3 tend to have the eyes fall in particularly inconvenient places. At least for a fairly frontal and symmetric image like this one. This, in fact, is not generally my favorite facial geometry, however it feels ideal for the grid piece. I think off axial facial geometry would tend to negate the grid space. Perhaps I'm wrong.

I also find the 4x4 with narrow aisles works quite well as well.

I hope I actually paint this grid piece sometime in 1999.