Earth Water Sky

I began this piece in August 2008 at the suggestion of Susan Fader of Ditto Editions, my amazing fine art printers.  She said, "Why don't you buy a roll of paper and make something really big?"  Since I was preparing for a new show in a month this seemed like a good solution for a large room needing a strong statement at one end.

The subject was a series of lagoons at the foot of Ausangate, a sacred mountain or Apu south of the Peruvian city of Cusco, where I had been earlier in the summer to study.  A large triptych might give the sense of being inside the vast space of this landscape.  Most of all I wanted to convey the primeval life and power that surrounds this holy mountain.

At the beginning of each workday I lit a candle to open sacred space and used the mesa to activate cekes to this Apu.  There had been a strong connection established during the trip and I hoped the energetic pathways were still awake.

Never having worked this large in pastel before, I had to figure out how to do it as I went along.  Unlike a painted mural, I had to work flat on the floor and find ways not to smudge everything as I walked over it.  After sketching out the basic composition I began working from the top down on each panel, sliding foamcore under each section as I worked on it.

 

Another challenge was the amount of pastel dust I created... I ended up sweeping regularly, mopping the floor with damp cloths and taking plenty of algin, aka Solaray Detox.