pen & ink, about 10″ x 10″
Recently, I’ve been thinking about creating a series of abstracts. However, I didn’t have a sense of direction until I re-watched the 2010 Pandorica episodes of the TV series, Dr. Who.
Something about the design on the outside of the box triggered some ideas.
These art concepts also reference the Mayan calendar, mandalas, and steampunk imagery. However, since the gears started turning (no pun intended) when I saw the Pandorica again… for me, it’s “the Pandorica series.”
Backstory
If you’ve known me from childhood, you probably know I’ve been drawing these boxy designs since junior high school. These patterns decorated the margins of almost all my school notes.
Later, they were featured as cards and giant murals, and in the 1980s, CNN commissioned a series of them.
The designs were usually rectangular. I often softened them with swirls and stars as if they were floating in space.
When I looked at the Pandorica again this past week, I suddenly envisioned the boxes in a circle. I know I want to do something on canvas, but a first attempt in acrylics ruled out one approach that didn’t work.
(I have other canvas-related ideas in mind, some of which I’ll test today.)
The actual work is black ink on white paper, about 12″ x 12″.
It took me about three hours to draw this. It’s very detailed, and except for two circles drawn as the general guidelines, I created the design spontaneously.
My initial impulse is to paint outside the circle using black India ink, as if the art is suspended in the darkness of outer space.
For now, I’m leaving this sketch as-is, to serve as a reference for other pieces in this series.