A System for Intimacy grew out from the process of sanding smooth the layers of gesso, the material used to create the surface for the silverpoint technique in the In Papyro series.

 

These 'worlds' are made from the numerous pieces of sandpaper that were discarded. As the sandpaper got 'used up', the gesso would adhere to the surface to create forms suggestive of atmospheric conditions, cloud formations, wind patterns.

I found meaning in the process of laying down the gesso and its sanding to a porcelain-like surface. I saw in this procedure a way of getting to know my subject prior to the act of drawing (In Papyro), and every pull, press and push of the sandpaper created openings to a world within the work that I found myself getting lost in.