The Web we Leave: Lab Book #24

 

The Web we Leave is based upon the doodles in the first part of my 24^th lab book. The lab books number back to my time as a graduate student, then as a postdoc, and finally as a professor. The earlier lab books are not in my possession but I made some photocopies, and made paintings of most of the essential doodles from those books. This is a full sized version I just took a picture of using my small interior LED tripod lamps. 

The Web we Leave: Lab Book #24, watercolour 22 x 30" cold press, December 2022 (No. 3354)

Here are some crops and further thoughts on the painting:

 

Crop 1 Most years I have completed at least one large format (22 x 30") painting. Last year it was Saturation Costs. Today I finished another installment of the Lab Book series, using notes from about half of my 24^th lab book which spans mid 2021 until late 2022. It was filled with an unusually large number of doodles in the margins and spilling over onto the pages. I replicated each doodle using bone black (PBk9) slightly tinted with blue (PB60) yellow (PY154) or brown (PR101), and a number 0 sable brush. Random doodles were then coloured in with blue, red, green or yellow. The style was meant to emulate the late Keith Haring, a famous New York graffiti/pop artist. His work consisted of simple outlines of characters and objects coloured in with a limited, but bright palette.

Crop 2 Here is a second crop of the painting. I could only fit a segment into the scanner. Its just barely visible to the left, but there is a conveyor belt making covid vaccines, with virus-shaped gears running it, and money being turned out. It was a comment on how the virus created the need for vaccine, which generated a lot of profit for industry.  

Crop 3 The virus cogs, conveyor belt, and cash