I am not pleased with this drawing for its visual aesthetics: I’d be hard pressed arguing that it had any. My interest in this piece is the unique way that it was born, and the interesting effect that was born from it (for me).

To understand how this particular drawing originated, you’ll have to imagine me sitting on the can. Well, you don’t have to, and in fact I wouldn’t recommend it, so lets just say that I was sitting around idly in my bathroom one day looking around for something of interest to pass the time. The soap dispenser, toilet roll, toothbrushes … all minor distractions - nothing to hold my attention for a while like a good book (which I was lacking at the time).

That’s when my gaze fell on the abstract design of the shower curtain that we had at the time, and within it I could see a face, and then another and another. That in itself was amusing, but I noticed also that if I tilted my perception while I was looking at one face, I would find another one hidden within it.

So with paper and pen, I started drawing the faces that I saw, and how they interlocked with each other. Some were drawn from that shower curtain, some were birthed as originals specifically for the drawing - at least some of those should be obvious to even the casual viewer. There are many many different entities hidden within the woodwork of this picture - some strange head tilting may be required to greet them all.

I liked this concept of entities within entities in my drawings and this was the first time that I consciously explored down that path. I was excited by the possibility and found myself rushing forward on and on, both capturing and releasing, hiding and revealing, my little inked folk with a sense of excitement that left careful consideration for visual appeal behind with the child-like giggle of a kid exploring an interesting attic littered with toys.