EVIL

When I decided to record family stories for this project, this is one of the first that I thought of.  It is a story that was told to me by a cousin.  The image has haunted me for years.  It is easily one of my favorites of the bunch.

"I was walking to church early one morning. I was an altar boy and we had to get there early. The sun wasn't up yet. I looked up and saw a dog in front of me. Growling at me. Right in the middle of the road. But this dog wasn't no normal dog. It had a long snout. Like really long. Maybe two feet long. And right then, I knew it was evil. There was no other explanation. Dogs just don't look like that. So I made the sign of the cross over myself and picked up a big rock. But when I went to throw it, the dog was gone." 

STORYTELLING

I am incorporating storytelling into the two pieces I'm currently working on.  These are family stories that give a peek into my childhood on the Texas-Mexico border.  Here are some examples of the experimenting I've been doing with script on linens.

slow progress

I chose to arrange my paper background in a way that will hopefully give my final image a fragmented and distant feel.  I arranged the paper first and then glued it down to a 4' x 4' piece of plywood.  The gluing takes several sessions and I use all kinds of objects to weigh the paper down overnight.  I used scrap wood to build a frame.

NEW WORK for an upcoming group show

I am currently creating two large self portraits for a group show in June.  This is the first step in my process.  I have collected this thick, grainy card-board colored paper from the cafeteria at the school I teach at.  It is used as a barrier between stacks of food.  I initially salvaged a huge pile of it from the garbage, but now it is set aside just for me.  My coworkers are so supportive!  I want the backgrounds of my images to appear like old photographs.  One background is a black/brown color and the other is this rust/sepia color.  I used whatever paint I had laying around (acrylic and latex) and a lot of water.