Working in Series

It has been a couple of weeks since I posted as I have been busy finishing the latest piece in my Ruins series. It combines elements of Ruins 1 and Ruins 4 but on a larger scale. The piece is 299cm wide and 102cm high and is going to be a devil to photograph! But it is a great example of how working in series is allowing me to gain confidence as an artist. Time is precious and I would not have started a piece of this size without being confident that it would 'work'.

Quite by coincidence I've read a couple of blog posts this week that talk about working in series. The first is by Lisa Call in which she shows some of the final pieces in her Structures series. This series was started in 2000 and has resulted in 200 pieces. Which is pretty amazing when you think about it! It is really interesting to see how more recognisably 'Lisa Call' the later pieces are.

The other post was by Elizabeth Barton. She makes the case that working in series is not limited to abstract art; it can be representational as well. She illustrates it with pieces from 3 of her series. Unlike Lisa, Elizabeth used quite different styles in some of her series.

Both artists teach courses on working in series and Elizabeth has published a great book on the topic.