I've been working on a multi-level personal secretary, a commission. She asked me to make a cabinet with six unusual compartments. So I started thinking about differently-shaped doors and drawers.
I came up with this basic design, and started construction.
So, over the months, as time allowed (which it didn't do very often) began to build the piece, starting with cutting the various pieces, covering them in a layer of neutral-colored paper and acrylic matte medium, and joining them together when they were ready. As I worked, I learned what steps had to be done before others, and what techniques worked and what didn't.
Even though all the levels weren't constructed, I couldn't help myself from moving on to covering the first layer with the final papers.
Since then, I've been putting in many more hours, and made quite a bit of progress. As you can see, I decided to reverse the orientation of the top layer.
Here's the thing: when I describe the series to people (not easy), or sometimes when people see the pictures I post, they say "That sounds really cute" or "Your work is so cute." Hmmm. "Cute" is not the first word I would want to come to people's minds when looking at my work. "Clever," maybe. "Intriguing," definitely. But as I keep working, like today, making a small beach scene that fits in one of the drawers, and it was turning out to be rather "cute," I wondered if the project is doomed to be "precious." And yet, the choices I'm making feel true and right for the piece. How can I rescue it from mere cuteness?
