if there is one thing I have loved since my earliest memories it is old and weathered wood
the yukon territory has a number of old and derelict buildings... cabins, stores and saloons hearkening back to the gold rush days... wherever gold was found buildings followed and in the 1960s, long since abandoned, they were free to wander in
they fascinated me, even at a very young age... who had lived there, why didn't they now, what music played, the wind in the trees, an echo of distant chatter that whispered through the rooms...
my hands on the walls, the feeling of raw, time-worn wood a tangible link to then
i'm taking this work slowly, finding my way as i go; the more i do, the more feelings that bubble up to the surface and the more i begin to understand what this place and these things mean to me, the influence they have had in what i like and how i think
still looking at photos, editing, cropping, adjusting colour and contrast - it's really one big paper shuffle on my worktable these days as i work on layering and collage
the image below is a digitally edited crop of a photo of the back of a quonset hut in whitehorse, yukon - down the alley from my grand-parent's house, i walked by it daily for several years as a small child
this photo was taken a a few years ago - it's been cropped and converted to a "silver tone" version of black and white which has enhanced the grain of the wood and highlighted some of the faded areas
the one below is cut from a montage of yukon photos printed on acetate
water, mountains and wood
below, the two have been layered with the acetate on top
i love this...
the way the lower portion of the wood almost appears as water; shining, sparkling light acting as ripples
the edges of the boards, a kind of wave action... the last impossibly tiny waves as the lake finally calms
next, a slightly darker version... the light is fading, twilight approaches
and now with the sky cropped and the whole lightened
wood as water less effective here but the sky takes on more luminosity
the dark blues, sparkle of light, water and wave action, sharp lines in the sky... the effects of the somewhat muddled acetate print layered on the weathered wood
all of these things come together, a kind of "polaroidesque" sum of the parts, that is all that i love about the yukon
all of my memories, layered in mind over the years and compressed into one enduring image
a picture of love
3 comments:
My goodness, that is so effective! A sense of place and a sense of time, both together..
I love this kind of transparent overlay montage. You have achieved some wonderful effects…. The wood in the water is so… water like … for want of a better description. I love the silver tone effect. I agree with Rachel… definitely a sense of place and time… quite haunting and so steeped in nostalgia.
You have reminded me (as you often do) that I have a 'mind percolation' of attempting one of my landscapes in B&W/grey tones. Who knows, maybe 2023 will be the year that I actually attempt it, provided my stash yields enough fabrics to achieve what I have in my mind.
I am inspired by the fact that you managed to change weathered wood (always my fascination) into something that of course is water...whyever wouldn't it be?
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