building complexity layer by layer

unpacked, tidied up, organized, full of inspiration and sick as can be

nine days on, one of the symptoms of this cold/flu is a pretty good bout of brain fog which hasn't actually been a bad thing... think of it as forced slowing down of my creative impulses that has allowed for a bit of a breakthrough in a subject that has long stymied me

mark-making

though true to the definition of what brain fog is it came about in a rather meandering way

follow me if you will...

it began with a desire to explore text written to replicate the weathered marks on driftwood

which led me to looking at a series of small collages on driftwood I made several years ago

and though I was initially looking at these with a thought to the marks on the wood I became enamoured all over again with the layers

which immediately led to a desire to make larger collages inspired by driftwood

which reminded me of collage-type work I had in mind for the pilings along the river

which led to thinking yet again about how water weathers wood

wind and water

which led to  a desire to explore water, wind and wood

but when I got the bag of driftwood out to select a few pieces to work with I realized my thoughts had strayed from interpreting the marks on it with text

you might be wondering how all this could be attributed to brain fog... well, that bit of thinking took about four days, and was about as in-depth as what I've written - nothing specific, just a vague desire to explore water, wind and wood in one book, studies that look at them separately as well as where they intersect

whilst excited about the prospects of those explorations I searched for a blank sketchbook and came upon one where I had intended to explore mark-making

 mark-making has always felt like somewhat of a vague and mysterious subject to me - almost every artist I knew of did it but I could never really quite figure out how they approached it, how to get started, what kind of explorations to try and what to do with whatever it was I came up with but I knew it was a way to add complexity to my work and this was the book where I had intended to try and figure it out 

 I had glued down a photo of the river in winter and drawn some bare trees beneath it based on what I saw in the photo which I intended on also working in stitch but I realized pretty quickly I was completely missing the point and so it got set aside

through the fog it dawned on me to take the idea of the trees, the bare limbs, and work with them in a more abstract way that didn't immediately read trees and branches so I turned the page and tried something a bit different

better, barely

since the image below was taken I have done two more drawings, each trying to push the marks further 

 

in my usual fashion it will take a few iterations to get there but turning the page upside down for part of the drawing process is helping with that

and since they're pretty basic I'm stitching each one though I am considering adding other elements, one inspired by the dead leaves still attached to some branches

so a few things to explore with the branches and then I'll be ready to tackle the guardrail  shown in the other photo on that page

so I was pretty excited to finally feel like I had found a way forward with the mark-making thing but then 

what of the water, wood, and wind explorations?

that idea had also taken a firm hold and the studio floor was littered with wood, scraps of cloth, and paper

which is all very exciting and wonderfully inspiring

but does not yet address interpreting the marks on driftwood in text

which is where this saga began

sigh...

like I said, brain fog

take care,

Jillayne