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On My Walks: A series of still life images.
The "On My Walks" images came about from
observations and collections during
my daily walks. The objects obtained from the walks are scanned
directly into a
computer file which is then color corrected and printed onto
watercolor paper using
pigment inkjet inks with an archival life of 150 - 200 years.
The 13" x 19" images started when I found a dried up, smashed baby
copperhead snake on the roadside during one of my walks. I kept looking at
it and walking by it for about three days, then decided to take it home.
The next morning the rain cleared everything from the road. I saw that as a
sign!
Originally, I just scanned the snake as an object. Then I started to put it
with other things to see how the juxtaposition of objects worked. The
background was put into the still life using leaves and bark. These were
held in place by a piece of mylar, which is the only manmade part of this
series. The mylar reflects the colors of the scanner light to make it
appear a bit unnatural. The shadow of the light creates other effects on
the still life.
The snake images fast grew into other directions. I found a second baby
copperhead, then some snake skins. It kept going. I have a collection of
butterflies, spiders, worms, frogs, smashed grapefruit, cicadas, even a
frozen brown snake from Charlottesville.
As I look at these images, they have a meaning far beyond the "On My Walks"
theme. The walks are the way I renew myself, the outdoors and nature itself
help me to focus my energy on my art and on the goals of my life. These
still life images have pulled together many of these thoughts and feelings.
When I look at them, I see the course of the year as it has unfolded in
nature, even though they are not meant to portray specific seasons. Each
still life shows a grouping of things related either according to color,
texture, season, availability and time.
The image I call "Poms and gingko" was done using ginkgo leaves from New
York's SOHO district and from a pomegranate that is cut up, spilling seeds
and juice all over the scanner. The moth image is a grouping of objects
loaned by a friend which were put together with similar color and textures
to create a sort of portrait about that person. Every still life was done
in reverse. It requires that I think of what is under the image rather than
what is on top. Keeping the objects in place is a challenge, but it also
gives the images a little randomness that adds to the final outcome. I
never am sure of how it is going to look until it is actually scanned. I
can then change it, but can't always make it stay in place, as I would like
to have it. Currently, I have created close to 100 of these images. The
series is still going on. Every day I find new things, or people who see or
hear of what I am doing loan or give me new objects. I have no idea of how
it will end.
Artist Olivia Parker states "still lifes juxtapose objects to depict the
comfort found in a table with food or a vase of flowers or to show the
despair of the vanitas or memento mori. Still life has sometimes been
dismissed as insignificant, yet still lifes remain. I think that their
persistence has to do with their proximity to the most basic concerns of
human life: food, shelter, sex (with its associations of life and growth),
and death. Still lifes permit endless expressive experimentation within a
form that remains close to universal human experience." I agree with
Olivia. Still life, in my work, has come to represent much about myself as
an artist, an individual and a part of the world in general.
Anne C. Savedge
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