Spotlight
Spotlight gives me an opportunity to showcase a particular image or set of images. Close-up photos can display details from larger pieces. Background stories about the concept, inspiration, circumstances, or development of a piece can be shared, including progressive images of a work-in-progress.
Spotlight library: Is More Than, Interconnected, Rivers in the Sky, The Cost of Soft
"Rivers in the Sky"
Between December of 2022 and March of 2023 at least 12 atmospheric rivers hit central California. Record rain, snow and damaging winds brought flooding, landslides, fallen trees, road closures, and long, wide-spread power outages. The two images that make up this photo-collage were taken between storms in January and March along the Carmel River.
Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow bands in the atmosphere that transport water vapor out of the tropics... like rivers in the sky. In California, they generate from the Hawaiian tropics and are carried by easterly trade winds that collide with the jet stream near the coast. With global warming, especially near the equator, the warmer air holds more moisture and increases the number and intensity of atmospheric river events worldwide.
"Rivers in the Sky," from my Folding and Mending portfolio, conveys the impression of rivers overflowing their banks, water flowing in all directions.
I first cut a slit in the horizontal print through which I slid the vertical print. I then created the folds to mimic the swiftly moving currents. Some of the folds cross through and overlap both prints.
I dampened the prints to create the effect that they had perhaps been submerged, the edges crumpled from the force of the currents.
The stitching along the shoreline of each image is meant to "hold" the shrubs together, as if to fortify the land from the deluge of rushing water. I let long strands of thread twist and curl along with the branches of the shrubs.
While the years of severe drought in California have been alleviated by this winter's storms, it came at a big cost. Climate scientists are forecasting further extreme weather events across the planet as global warming continues.
I hope you enjoyed this Spotlight on the concept and making of "Rivers in the Sky." You can view more images from the portfolio in my Folding and Mending gallery.
Please feel free to send comments or questions via my Contact Page.