The well runs dry occasionally for each of us.
This week I’ve commenced working again
after a fallow period that followed Open Studios. For whatever reason, I felt
no passion for art-making for four long weeks. I got out my sewing machine and
made half a dozen new tops, did some mending, read a lot, snacked too much, puttered
around the house taking time to put my home back in order. A friend suggested
that I needed to reclaim my home after giving it over to so many visitors, but
that’s not it. Not at all. A couple of my spiritual gifts are hospitality and
encouragement and I got to use those gifts freely during the open days. I absolutely
loved that part of it, so much so that I’m now offering classes, some in my
home.
Then yesterday I awakened to a desire to move on. I took
out a bunch of heavyweight papers to use as substrates for new collages. Some
were starts, some were old paintings that didn’t work, and some were virgins…
pure white and ready to be sullied with whatever comes.
Having several different pieces going at the same time is
nothing new, nor is working in series. That's what I'm doing now.
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| STARTS |
I laid 22 supports on my work table, got out a huge box of papers
and set to work, choosing papers from the compost* in response to what was
already on the supports. I set the timer and worked for an hour, pulling papers
one by one and choosing additions to the starts according to color and to whim.
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| CHOOSING PAPERS, THE FIRST ROUND |
This morning I started again, but this time I chose a bit
more carefully, adding from another box, thinking about pattern, color
combinations, even a bit about content, though that comes much later. I’m still
working intuitively. After about 45 minutes
I decided it was time for neutrals, so yet another box came out and for half an
hour I added neutrals to each set of papers… browns, creams and beige, black,
mixed no-name neutrals of painted papers. And then it was done.
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| STARTS, AFTER ADDING NEUTRALS |
I ended with 20 sets of papers sitting on their supports,
waiting for me to more carefully work them into finished collages. At this point I'll bundle and bag each start and set to work on just a few at once, still working in series and concentrating on a manageable number of individual pieces. Some won’t
make the grade. Most will bear no resemblance to their beginnings.
Two of the
white originals didn’t get going at all and that tells me something about how I
work. My natural way to work is to respond to what’s already there. I need a
starting point. It isn’t the fear of the white page; it’s simply not knowing
what to do with the white paper unless I have a plan.
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| START #1 |
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| MORE STARTS |
Maybe you’ve been there, too. If you’re looking at a white
piece of paper or a page in your sketchbook wondering what to do with it. I have some ideas for you.
Work intuitively and claim the paper.
·
Choose a piece of paper that you really like and
glue it down somewhere on the page.
·
Load a big brush with a beautiful color and
swipe it across the paper.
·
With a pen start drawing a convoluted line from
one edge of the paper to the opposite edge.
·
Respond to whatever mark you made. Add something
else: another paper or color or line.
Make a plan.
·
Sit down with your studio journal/sketchbook and
draw. Work from something that’s in front of you or from a photo and make
several thumbnail sketches for composition and value.
·
Fill a page with thumbnail designs based on
shape, line, form, pattern, etc..
·
Cut a viewfinder (a square or rectangle cut from
the center of a piece of paper) and run it over magazine pages to isolate
possible designs. Draw these as thumbnails.
Now get to work. I’d
love to see what you do and have you inspire me with your creations.
*Compost. A box of assorted papers, scraps, trimmings,
photos, images that I paw through whenever I need something for a collage. The
jumble of color and pattern works together to inspire new combinations.
