STAGE 1:

After searching for a set of vintage doors with fully-intact glass windows, I land these two fantastic 1940s doors from a Texas home, that will eventually become “Rosencrantz” and “Guildenstern”.

Days are spent removing hardware, cleaning off dirt, scraping paint, wire-brushing, and brainstorming what colors I want to use, and what impact I want to create.

STAGE 2:

Process of rifting begins using 4 different types of spatulas applying my secret plaster concoction (!). Each of 3-6 layers of mix are applied and dried; applied and dried, etc. until I think I’ve achieved the right effect of peaks and valleys for paint.

I go back with more brush and scraper work along the way and use bricks as well to rough up specific areas.

STAGE 3:

Now the fabulous, colorful begins beginning with the imagining of color palettes, depth of pigment, specific deposits and spots where I can allow for ambiguity. This is also a process of several layers of acrylic paint and ink, using spatulas, brushes, and droppers.

      

STAGE 4:

Giving myself hours or days to step away and come back to look with fresh eyes, I can see where I want to add more depth, more deposits, more blending. And then it’s no holds barred…

Like Pollock in his finest hours, I throw and splatter paint and inks with brushes, droppers and even spatulas without care… until I think: It is finished and it is good!

STAGE 5:

Finally, with tiny brushes, I apply several layers of a semi-gloss lacquer to add a protective seal from the environment, lights and water.

Then, I step back and ponder what I feel from the two pieces. I love Shakespeare and am a fan of Tom Stoppard’s play “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead”… whose namesake characters are totally memorable in their own rights and quite different from one another. And so it goes: “Rosencrantz” (L) and “Guildenstern” (R).