In the past when I physically created artwork I always enjoyed spending time preparing the back ground before commencing the design. I would vary the colour or create a textured surface with paper of mixed media - the options were limitless and inspiring to work with as the challenge was to cooperate with this surface - to let it influence how the work's outcome.
Increasingly I'm using the same starting point of laying out the 'ground' for my digital work and 'Ground Work' is an example of this style of working.
After preparing the linear design/composition over the prepared surface, or 'canvas', I wondered what it would look like seemingly emerging from the earth coloured background rather than floating in space. My solution was to use transparent points in the gradients to create a lost and found appearance in the sculpted shapes so they would appear to disappear into the earth surface.
