Ritu Sangal

“Vivid Shadows”

I am comfortable with painting enamels and usually make panels on steel, composing as I go along after each firing. It is like a long conversation with my painting.  I also like working on copper and it is usually two dimensional, putting in some thought if it is cloisonne though not a detailed study. As I was visiting my son’s family in Atlanta, from mid-November to mid-January, for the first time I kept thinking and drawing a lot of options. Intimidated by all the talent in the group and all the fine work my topic kept me puzzled and frustrated.

I started out with drawing shadows in the water, and on showing it on the one zoom meeting I attended, got a comment ‘that is interesting as you can see colours in the water’. I can’t remember the Artists name and thought it is a good route to go. I drew a reflection from a photo, taken on an earlier trip to the Andaman Islands. The dilapidated buildings covered with vegetation and the clear image in the water was inspiring.

• Figure 2 (see images below)
  These rough sketches showed promise till it struck me that water has reflection and not shadows. I was completely misinterpreting my topic. The next idea actually struck me on my daily walks in Atlanta and the vivid shadows cast by the trees on the roads I walked. Hence, I came up with-

• Figure 3
  Happy with my drawing, I thought that I could super impose this sketch on the colorful clothes drying on the Indian dhobi ghats (washermen) . Tried out the idea on a steel plate but was completely unimpressed by the outcome. It needs a lot of work to bring out the effect and as the deadline is approaching, I have left it for another time. I have used this image to show my thought process. The colors in the background are sarees drying on the ground in the sun. It would have been a nice story to tell…….maybe another time.

• Figure 4
  While playing with my grandson in the playground, in Atlanta, I had clicked this picture. I don’t think I could have captured such a sharp shadow in Delhi. The shadows are of my husband and me.

• Figure 5
  I felt it had possibilities and on returning to India, I decided to etch the background on copper. Since I wanted a rough effect, I used a wooden skewer to sgraffito on the resist. I was happy with the etch, though in hindsight it could have been deeper.

• Figure 6
  After counter enameling, I wet packed the enamel and fired. The colors looked great but since the front side had less color on the plate, bare copper had fire scales, and was concave I thought a coat of flux should fix the problem.

• Figure 7
  After stoning the fire scale, and adding a thin coat of flux, to cover the exposed copper, it was a complete disaster as I lost all the bright colors. So, I stoned all the flux off and reinforced the enamel by wet packing. Also added a golden yellow to all the exposed copper surface.

• Figure 8
  My plate was appearing like a field of unruly grass, just as I wanted. I did not know I was in for more trouble. Wanting a soft shadow through which the field should be suggestively visible, I dusted a thin coat of grey and fired. It came out completely opaque.

• Figure 9
  This image is before firing. So back to stoning off the grey, which really looked ugly. I then used a light coat of onglaze black and fired.

• Figure 10
  Liked the effect but thought the shadow should be more vivid so added another coat of black and fired. Decided to stop before ruining it completely.

• Figure 11
  The extended time was very welcome and though I use on glaze paints with enamel, this was a completely novel experience. I really needed the deadline to get back to the studio for enamel as I have spent the last year only working on a Ph.D. course I am enrolled in. A push was required and I am happy to start documenting my studio practice thanks to Sandra’s challenge.

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