Prior to turning to intaglio reliefs in about 1996, my relief exploration comprised three stages:
1. 1975-1978 New York City reliefs, 128 East 7th St. 3rd floor loft, using a directed light source and exploring various materials;
2. 1979-1986 Early Cape Cod reliefs made at 649 Main Street, continuing directed light source reliefs and material exploration. The early reliefs lit from below could be considered negative reliefs;
3. 1987-1996 Mid Cape Cod reliefs made at 1772 Main Street exploring how to make reliefs that could be exhibited in various lighting situations. These became more sculptural, positive plaque type reliefs as time went on. The first relief where I felt completely successful was a small relief of an orange in a bowl. A colored version appears below.
I was ready to turn to their negative counterparts and in 1996-7 I began to redo some of the positive reliefs in the negative, using moulding techniques.
Photos of one example of the change over are shown below: