Ribbon

1 Inspiration:

Ribbon came to be after years of obsessing over the ways that ribbons bend. The gradients that are created as the from changes and light reflects from the surfaces of the ribbon.

The continuous white line is shown at an exaggerated width as it bends and moves across the canvas. The negative space shown in blue and white, reacts to the changes in the bending white line, abstractly depicting the depth, gradients and movement, blending from blue to yellow and adding hints of green. 

In the process of the primary painting period, I came to understand that for me a ribbon is linked to my perception of the femininity. Something I noticed I had observed in reading historic fiction, particularly european historical fiction where ribbons were often used to accessorize dresses and hats. For instance Jane Austin novels and the mentioning of purchasing ribbons for this purpose. I imagine that they must have been an inexpensive way of adding an extra touch to garments. There is a scene in the early 2000s film where Elizabeth meets Mr. Wickham in a shop and ribbons are hanging all around as the two flirt.

Additionally, my own mother often uses ribbons of various shapes, sizes and colors to embellish her crafts. She has created lots of cards, wedding invitations and scrapbook pages with ribbons. She used to have a small shop where all sorts of ribbons hung. I believe that I was most intrigued by them and there form seeing them all together. From very thin to two inches thick in some cases, they all took on curves and gradients of different sorts. It was that variation that I wanted to paint. Thus the ribbon in the painting twists and turns sometimes. Having no gradient and other times having a very deep gradient.

It is my favorite so far, and that is why I chose to release it first. The overall movement across the canvas is balanced and peaceful. One can choose to follow the curve across the canvas, perhaps searching for the start and end. They are intentionally meant to not pop out of the canvas so as to create a impression of infiniteness.

The funny thing is I recall the exact day I began working on Ribbon, as I started this painting on my 30th birthday. Well, I started drawing out with pencil the path of the ribbon on the canvas on my birthday before going out to a bar with friends in the evening. I recall feeling rather sad and homesick that day and starting I helped me to feel more normal, which is something that I appreciated before going out with friends. I have and at that time had so many lovely friends in Berlin and they all came out that evening to help me celebrate. In some ways I am grateful to have begun it that day, as it helped me, as painting often does to feel more normal and able to tolerate socializing, especially when I am not up for it.

I had previously sketched out an idea of what ribbon would be. ‘Sketched’ I should say, as each sketch that I do for my paintings typically takes weeks and well over 5 hours to finish sketching. Hopefully one day I am able to find the sketch, as on the day I was writing this post, I could not locate it.

2 Evolution:

Eventually Ribbon moved back to the US with me, nearly one year after I moved to Boston in May 2017. Having it return to my home and being able to look at it each day helped me, as I felt homesick and foreign in my own country. It also moved with me to LA in 2018. Each time, I took lots of cardboard and blankets and created an oversized box that I checked as baggage into the airline. One day I will write a post about that, as it was terrifying to ship them like that and rather unorthodox.

3 Technical:

Ribbon is an oil on canvas that is approximately 24” x 32”. It has no top or bottom. It is somewhat oddly sized, as I started when I was living in Berlin, so the canvas size is in metric. Thus any of the prints of it are also somewhat off in sizing. Rather than cropping it, I prefer to have off sizing. The composition, as with all of my works was very specifically designed to the canvas. It can be hung in any direction, and over the years I have hung it in all directions.

On this particular canvas, I painted the edges into the composition. It was the first time that I utilized this technique. I would prefer to be able to print the edges onto a canvas and have it wrap them. I hope in future versions, perhaps in the Ribbon 2027 version, that will be possible. It will require a lot more preparation work to achieve this, but I want to provide it as printed canvas with wrapped edges eventually. See photos below of wrapping. The scanning technique that I utilize is unable at this time to capture those edges, so it will need to be disassembled in order to have it properly scanned.

As it was the first work that I had prints made of, I have printed a number of prototypes made. When the first one arrived, I was ecstatic! It felt amazing to see my work printed. I have spent the last few weeks evaluating which printing service to utilize, and I am happy to announce that I am not ready to sell prints. I am working towards framed prints and canvases as well.

4 Conclusion:

If you have made it this far, perhaps you enjoy this work as much as I do. Thank you for engaging.

All the best,

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