Kepler Study

Faber-Castell Pitt Artist brush pens, UniBall gold ink pens and Liquitex acrylic paints on printmaking paper 300 gsm smooth. Image 29.7 cm x 42.0 cm, unframed. This is an original drawing made using an AxiDraw V3/A3 plotter, a drawing robot - mine’s called Fuzz-3PO (Human/Plotter relations).

This unique piece is a study in five-fold geometric pattern inspired by the work of Johannes Kepler. It features layered acrylic paints and pigment inks that combine to create real depth in the image. The use of gold acrylic paint as a base layer for sections of the design, in conjunction with layered gold ink detailing, catch the changing light and animate the image.

Drawing using a plotter produces technically precise images which retain the analogue elements of drawing, the interaction between ink and surface, and combine them with the unique characteristics and quirks of the drawing machine. I enjoy the ordered process of drawing and planning a plot in combination with the small elements of chaos in its execution - some of my favourite areas of the drawings are often the areas of slight overlap or an unexpected combination of inks producing new colour. Plots of the same pattern will vary slightly as a result of the process.

Caring for your drawing:

Where possible I make use of lightfast and archival inks on acid free paper. Inks can still fade or change colour over time if they are exposed to strong UV light so I recommend hanging your drawing somewhere that is not in direct sunlight and when framing the drawing to use UV filtered glass.