this week I didn't have a lot of studio time but I tried to make good use of the time I had
using a planner has helped me take a more intentional approach to my work - knowing what I want to do makes it possible for me to jump right in to making when I have limited time available - no wondering what to tackle, just jump right in
the work I'm doing lately is all inspired by the Yukon River and below is a piece of linen I painted with pigment-based paint using vine black, indigo, titanium white and new-to-me vivianite, a beautiful pale slightly greyed blue
the cloth is still wet in this image and since it dried it has paled slightly but not much - now to wait the requisite 4 weeks before I can start to use it
it's the only drawback to this technique but it does give me a lot of time to think about what I might like to do with it
from there it was on to collage - a rummage through my box of painted papers yielded a fair number of papers in the colours of a winter landscape of mountains and a river
in amongst the papers were a handful of small torn fragments of a much larger drawing... it was a random abstract style of drawing done last summer using black ink, an indigo inktense block and charcoal done on a very large sheet of cartridge paper
when I had finished the drawing I turned it over and tore it into several large pieces and was then meant to use a few of them as the starting point of a new drawing
the fragments were uninspiring though and in frustration I tore them into small pieces and threw them in the garbage... looking down at them a few minutes later I thought a couple of the ones that I could see looked rather interesting so I fished a handful out to play with some day
some day was today
choosing the ones that had large areas of blue I twisted and turned them, switched them around some more, and came up with something I quite like - a twisting dark blue river winding through a snowy landscape... bare-limbed trees, a little fence - even the pilings
just not quite sure which way should be up
version one
and version two
both work quite well I think but I'm leaning toward the first one
after that, a couple of simple collage starts - neither of the next two are finished yet, nor am I convinced these are the final orientations
I do like making these, having the painted papers scattered around my worktable... trying different combinations and layouts, looking for interesting marks that can tell a story
a little bit of creative time has provided a lot of inspiration
2 comments:
I think maybe one of the advantages of the weeks of waiting is that you come to it fresh: perhaps the torn drawing would have spoken more clearly some later time, rather than immediately afterwards?
But then, how long is long enough..? Solve one question, three more buzz out of nowhere!
I could have sworn I had commented on this post as I am having a feeling of déjà vu reading it and commenting here. But, hey, maybe I didn't hit publish. I love the painted fabric piece. Even without doing anything to it, it already looks like the surface of moving water. It is beautiful! As for the two versions you are comparing, I expect you have made up your mind which you like best by now but for me it's the first one that gels with me the most. This is exciting work.
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