Impel 5.3 is underway and is the largest composition in the Impel series yet. Impel started in 2009 as a tiny inset in a kitchen backsplash that offered a social microcosm, a look at the interconnectedness of everyday life. At the time, I used a biological cell visual referent and have since refined the compositions using imagery of bubbles of oil in water, lines of ice and now smoke and vapor. For Impel 5.3, I wanted to get to more dancing, ribboning lines of grout and glass. I am doing plenty of clarifying and revising as I cut to get to the movement and energy I want. As always, I am focused on creating negative spaces in grout that will be equally compelling to the luminous glass elements. The palette is blue-grays. At this point, the lines are cut in blue-grays and blue-whites; the plan is to pull in blue tint glass for the interior forms. Impel 5.3 will be installed as a backsplash element in a brand new kitchen and will shimmer and shift with loads of natural light from south windows.
