Print of Abracadabra drawing No.66 Shell
Here it is..... the final print from my 66 drawings representing the last of the 66 letters of the ABRACADABRA talisman!
At home, after being in the sun for my solo morning walkies on a bright lockdown Christmas day, my eyes were full of motes, colours and shapes like timely festive baubles. Now this bauble is sent out into the world for another Christmas, a celebration of a long project completed and a hope for respite and cheer for all in need during these turbulent times.
This print is actual image size at 15 cm / 6" on 21 cm / 8" mould made, acid free, archival fine art rag paper 190g/90Ib
There are 66 of the Abracadabra artworks to choose from, so they're a perfect size, great for collecting, hanging them vertically or horizontally, experimenting with them by filling an entire wall or spreading the love through different spaces and having a choice for your different moods.
You can see the original drawings and other works that are often behind each image in my drawing section.
Please read on if you would like to know more about the making and the maker.
These works are open prints and unframed.
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These prints are a continuation of my Abracadabra series of drawings, and an entirely new shift for me. The project has taken five years in the making and is still developing, these fine art prints are the next stage.
I had hoped to have this collection published last year whilst I was travelling through Asia, but I had so many issues with internet speeds and power outages when I was trying to launch in November that I decided to postpone it until I was back in the UK.....which is now!
Creativity for me is about adapting and responding to circumstances so that I can keep making. Not many can afford to buy original art in such times, and so I need to change, to take a new direction in order to reach a more diverse public. This I hope to do by making my work as affordable as I can. That’s the fundamental idea behind me making these prints.
I have always actively sought and embraced change, which manifests in the diversity of my work. Many different projects and interests have fuelled my creativity over the years. This same need to move on, explore, discover and encounter has meant that travel has been a big part of my life for the last 20 years or so. I have set up makeshift studios in many different places and cultures, producing work directly from my environment and my headspace at the time.
My 66Circles and this Abracadabra collection are examples of these travel-inspired works. Every one of the original 66 Abracadabra drawings leads to a print 1 - 66. Most were completed whilst travelling in 2017 - 2019 and at home during the worst of the covid years, taking 5 years to complete in 2022.
All carry an influence on my surroundings and what was going on around me at that time, the colours, light, people, and places, along with my memories, moods and thoughts at that time.
I hope you enjoy the work!
You can see my drawings, paintings, sculptures and more at www.sandlaurenson.com
More reading?!
Why Abracadabra?
I have used this well-known word in these drawings as a framework for my ideas. Each work is a small but intrinsic part of the whole, a letter in the incantation and a step towards completing the triangle of the Abracadabra symbol.
Wikipedia: "Abracadabra is of unknown origin, but according to the Oxford English Dictionary, its first known occurrence is in the second-century works of Serenus Sammonicus. Several folk etymologies are associated with the word: from phrases in Hebrew that mean "I will create as I speak", or Aramaic "I create like the word" to folk etymologies that point to similar words in Latin and Greek such as abraxas or to its similarity to the first four letters of the Greek alphabet (alpha-beta-gamma-delta.
Also, through these works, I continue with my circular and spherical motif and signifier as seen in much of my work. The circle is a universal symbol with extensive meaning. It represents the notions of totality, wholeness, original perfection, the Self, the infinite, eternity, timelessness, and all cyclic movement.
It implies an idea of movement but stillness too and symbolises the cycle of time, the perpetual motion of everything that moves, the planets' journey around the sun, and the great rhythm of the universe.
The circle is also zero in our (Arabic origin) system of numbering, and symbolises potential or the embryo. It has purported magical value as a protective agent. In Jung's psychology, it indicates the end of the process of individuation, of striving toward psychic wholeness and self-realisation.
The circle is the antithesis of the much-overused square, which is the lowest state of a human who has not achieved inner perfection. Standing for the ultimate state of Oneness as the Circle of Necessity: birth, growth, decline, death. It is also considered by many from the beginning of human spirituality a defence against chaos, and formlessness.
Because of my harmony with these ideas, it makes creative sense for me to make each part of the Abracadabra talisman a circle, within a triangle, within a square.
I hope you enjoy the work :)