the light at the end of the tunnel

I'm starting to feel the pressure of the last year of grad school.  I'm eager to get things going - and I think my messy, smelly studio reflects that.  I've been spending a lot of time in my sketchbook thinking about what my thesis show will look like.  It's scary and exciting to be at this stage in my grad career.  The pressure is on.  Time to start churning out work. 

Over the summer, I tried to come to the studio at least once or twice a week.  I feel like I got a pretty good head start on some works.  One of them being pictured below (in progress - of course): 

18 "slides" made with a variety of materials such as: paint, pigs blood, and iron.  I have a total of 21 "slides" but have narrowed it down to 18 that make the cut. 

The wip (work in progress) title for the piece is "slide making experiment 1" - purely a descriptive title for sake of keeping track of all the wip's I have going on right now.  I write a lot in my sketchbook and when I have informal (or formal critiques with others) I like to keep track of which pieces I make notes on.  Below I have an image from my sketchbook of the notes I took while making the "slides" - I want to keep track of which materials create which reactions.  It is very similar to the lab notebook I keep in Dr. Ashley Seifert's lab. 

The plan for these slides are still in flux.  However, by talking to a couple of different faculty I think I will build individual light boxes for each of them; then probably be displayed in a grid together.  I still have a lot of details to hammer out.  What kind of material will be boxes be built from? the ratio of the box to the slide?  how will I light them? will there be a switch to turn the lights on or off? Below is one of my favorite "slides" held up to the light.  Dr. Ashley says it looks like a hamburger.  I had Mark Rothko in mind when I made it, but a hamburger works too. 

I really enjoyed making these "slides".  I think I'll continue the project throughout the year.  They have been helping me think about the compositions of my paintings.  I view them very similarly to Richter's mushed polariods - studies that become individual pieces.  They are also quick and easy for me to make and disregard if they come out as failures.  I feel no pressure when I'm making them.  Something I willingly welcome in this last year.