While I was between the easel and wall adding thin layers of oil paint to Signs Left Behind, when he wasn't sorting through Melusine's papers or practicing writing in Sütterlin, Franzi joined me in the greenhouse where he continued his explorations into blue and squares documented a year ago in the post Franzi blue.
However, in the ten months since that mid-spring posting and our late winter days in the greenhouse a shift had occurred not just in my way of working but in Franzi's, and eventually, as we will come to find out, Petra's too. This shift could be called a blurring of lines, or muddying of the waters, which had separated each of us during the first third of this research project. In part I believe this can be attributed to the collaborative works begun in September, Twelve Poem from the Between, Eight by Ten by Twelve by Four which progressed into Elegy, and Concertinaed. This shift must also be attributed to shifts in the dynamics of this project's participants occurring with Melusine's death. Admittedly, I had anticipated my ways of working would in some (unforeseeable) way be impacted by the application of the persona-tools in my practice through the process of our collaboration. What I failed to take into account was how the processes of each persona might change by the same action.
Interesting to note, sometimes the obvious is less obvious as it could be due to being just beyond the focus of the research (question/s). In fact, I was oblivious to even this obvious statement until encountering it first-hand by participating in the research of a colleague during my few days away in mid-March. In that case the artist and I, both with practices grounded in more traditional forms of object making and the associated materials, at the end of that day's experiment were taken a bit by surprise by a basic law of physics: the law of conversation of energy. This was not necessarily the focus of the artist's research but through his research, this basic law and how it pertains to the question/s he is asking drew our attention to it, made us re-aware of this fact of physics. This might seem very simple but it is still something that as an artist-researcher, I at least, need to be reminded of now and again. As I fall through the rabbit hole of my research questions what obvious information am I not seeing/considering? In the case of the shift in ways of working which has precipitated a blurring of the boundaries between myself and the persona-tools it is important to remember Newton's Third law applies even to the persona-tools!
“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
If a persona is a tool, just like a pencil or a paint brush, through its application (action) the tool will change (equal and opposite reaction). A pencil will become smaller with use as its lead is transferred by the pressure of the artist's hand to the surface upon which he or she is drawing with it; the bristles of a paintbrush will wear down as they transfer the paint they carry - put there by the painter - onto the surface against which the painter strokes it.
But back to Franzi.
Franzi's process involved building up a surface by applying very thin layers of blue acrylic paint, usually to a discarded or scrap surface - generally squares - found abandoned in the studio, and quickly drying with a hair dryer to produce a thicker, somewhat reticulated, textured - but not impasto - surface. At times the history of surface Franzi was applying himself peaks through the blue. Four square canvases [two 12 inches x 12 inches, one 20 inches x 20 inches, and one 30 inches x 30 inches] I had been working on the past year were lurking around the studio and going no where. At various times I had declared them finished - both as in 'done and as in 'gone' - but now I knew they were just taking up space. I offered them to Franzi for his next go 'round and he asked if he could play with the oil paint.
One thing to say about between the easel and wall, in the greenhouse if in March and April it is still winter-cold outside but the sun is shining and the sunshade has not gone up yet daytime temps can be over 40C mid-day. A thinly painted layer of oil paint even mixed with a medium consisting primarily of stand oil and Damar varnish, will dry enough to work over in under 24 hours. Franzi might not have been able to work as quickly or develop the reticulated surface of his acrylic paint-hair dryer technique but he was able to apply layer upon layer of various blue paints (with a variety of mediums and fillers) to those old, bumpy canvases in a few weeks time.
Because I was busy focused on Signs Left Behind and documenting the process of that painting's development I did little documenting of Franzi's activity on easel and wall. I did find on my camera a pic and a video Franzi must have taken/made as he worked.
This appears to be the 30 inch x 30 inch painting. It looks as if before applying layers of blue Franzi copied some of Melusine's writing in Sütterlin on the surface in black and added some layers of white.
When I came back from being away for a few days in mid-March I found Franzi had been playing around with hanging all four of the canvases together on the wall ... combining the fragments to create a larger painting, another blurring of the lines. I took the pic below ...
... and then suggested, lacking wall space, we clear out the floor space in the basement half of the studio and play around with combining the oils with the acrylics.
Franzi and I enjoyed laying out the paintings and discussing their potential to someday be hung together in various ways on a large white wall. Linna, the curator, has offered to curate an exhibition in her virtual gallery space once its digital construction is complete. Until then Franzi might paint a few more blue squares using either of these techniques or another that might emerge through our work together.