Week 9 Reflection

Working on plates: 4.5 hours
Printing plates: 2.5 hours
Drawing: 4 hours
Writing: 1 hour
Reading: 4.5 hours



I continued drawing this week, but started working at a larger scale. I read a perspective book to try and understand the basics of how to construct a space. It helped me think more critically about where I want the point of view to be before I start drawing. But it's still something I need to work on. The last image in this set is oil pastel instead of charcoal, and I really enjoyed the change.



Dear Cassie,

Remember those nights
lying parallel to each other
beneath the window?
I would burst into laughter,
no reason
except that silence seemed funny
with eyes open in the dark,
restless.
And you couldn't help it,
you had to laugh, too.

But not always.
Your eyes were murder
when I followed you around,
spying on you and your friends
until Maureen threw a shoe
at my head.
And still,
I did not relent,
always wanting so badly
to be you.

And at some point,
I think you started to like
sharing a room
with me.
We had so many fun days
together,
rearranging our beds,
and singing Britney Spears,
even after
she had stopped being popular.

And you'd jump on my bed
to wake me up
on weekends, and I'm still
not a morning person.
But then you left, and I slept
alone,
for four years,
with the upstairs
to myself.
Quiet.

And I missed your laughter,
those summer nights,
long ago, sleeping
in our underwear
with just a sheet, listening
to the fan click.
I still remember the soft,
morning light, dancing
across the slanted ceiling
when days were filled with nothing but
time.


I also continued to work on my aluminum plate, and I made another plate with the epistle poem above on it. It didn't work out, which I kind of expected, because dry-point is too fuzzy for text to be legible. If I want to print text on a plate, it will have to be etched, but I'm not sure if that is the solution, either.

After talking to Seth and Amanda on Tuesday, I've been thinking a lot about whether or not I want to make a book. Seth pointed out that books usually tell a sequential story, but there really isn't any specific order in my images. I feel like I've never been 100% into the idea of making a book, and I've finally admitted to myself that I don't really want to do it. I'm having so much fun making images and writing, and I don't want to force something that I'm not committed to. So I'm going to keep writing, drawing, and printing and see where things go.