After the test exhibition critique, and listening to advice suggested to me by several people, I've now decided to move away from the use of a frame and begin to use the tracing paper on it's own. I've considered constructing it in a more sculptural way, something that I have already begun on my test exhibition piece. I wanted to make a larger scale piece, but I could only find A1 sized sheets of tracing paper anywhere in the area, so to compromise I've decided to fix several sheets together to create one larger sheet of tracing paper to work with. Of course, if this idea is successful and I decide to continue with it, I'd search for larger sheets online or even possibly a roll of tracing paper that I could work with.

To make the tracing paper sculptural and to allow it to hold its shape, I decided to coat one side on the paper with a thin layer of PVA glue, place and sculpt it how I am happy with and leave it to dry. I tested out creating 'higher' peaks and sculptural parts to this by placing objects underneath it while it dried, which was successful and it didn't collapse or lose shape once it was removed.

 

I decided to stick with the purple/brown colour marker pen with this piece, as I feel it has a more organic colour and feel to it. I chose to Letraset markers again because of how the ink acts on the tracing paper allowing me to create more "painterly" and expressive marks, behaving a lot like watercolours with more control of where the colour is applied. I feel that in order to get a proper sense of how I could display this in a gallery and exhibition setting, I'll need to make a larger piece similar to this. With the drawings themselves, I've tried to me less detailed and more expressive and suggestive in how I create them, merging the first Botanical Hybrids drawings i created, using the collaged 'drawings' I also created in my sketchbook for ideas on how I can further develop the drawing into something more different from reality; so it appears more imaginary. I think of this as using the conventions of botanical illustration in a loose, more creative manner than scientifically accurate and correct.

Some process images: