Read the Forest Floor

In Halfland, everything must balance on the knife edge

of being one thing and then being realized as another.

I needed the Akt 4 title piece to read nearly as just bits from woodland fallen naturally onto the rich layers of material under giant trees. Not only that, but it also needed to serve as readable English letterforms announcing the next chapter in the story, "Dark," as we await Crowwoman Tarn's arrival at night.

I saw an almost letter "k" while settin' in the front yard, can you see what I saw (upper left)? Brought some of the material inside to see what other letters I could make on purpose. Took a small tile of the ground cloth I had made for other sets and added this forest floor material to it with my trusty matte medium. Coaxed some letters out of longer pieces and shapes with glue and thread. Finally landed on the full word "Dark" (upper right).

To get the title shot full frame, I needed more ground background around the word, so I made a larger piece using preserved coffee grounds and even more layers of cedar needles, et al. I had to thicken the "A" and the "R" to match the other letters better and tint them with paints and chalks until I raised their value to read equally to the others. I tinted the background dark with a walnut ink dilution to increase the contrast enough to recognize a message in it.

Took the finished piece back out into the front yard to see how I did.

I made sure to include a few crow feathers to the fallen items to further

foreshadow the featured character of the Dark chapter, Tarn.