Wednesday, November 22, 2017

I Know, I Know / Q&Q Cut-Up #10

I tried and tried to find a background color that would offer pop and liveliness as the 'grout,' so to speak, behind half-inch canvas tiles I had cut from quick & quixotic cut-up #10.

The top and bottom portions (sky, water) of cut-up #10 worked fine together when they were juxtaposed in the context of a single painting, but they became lackluster—at best—as tiles.

What worked as contrast or complement behind the sky tiles did not work at all behind the water tiles, and vice versa. If you've been following along for the past few days, you've seen.

I know, I know. Why did I even cut a 4x5" work-in-progress into dozens of dramatically smaller half-inch squares to begin with? 

I don't have an answer.

However, as aggravating as the self-created challenge has proved to be (and stay tuned … I may yet toss the remaining tiles in the trash), I sure have learned a bunch empirically. Plus, I now have at hand three sheets of awesome collage paper that were way fun to paint—a decent net gain in yardage, to call up my football imagery again.

Eventually I sidestepped my search for a color contrast, glued sixteen tiles on an essentially white background instead, scribbled some monochromatic watercolor pencil on the page, and then flung monochromatic latex house paint from a small applicator. 

The play suddenly came together! Touchdown!

I added a few teeny little hints of oil pastel.

Scored the extra point.

Now I'm dancing a happy dance in the end zone.

[Only 66 more tiles left!]

The Patter of Rain on Windowpanes
4x5"; acrylic, latex, and oil pastel, and canvas-tile collage on paper,
mounted on heavy card stock
abstract
2017
[gift]


12 comments:

Laurie Mueller said...

I LOVE this, Dotty! And as far as those players, forget about it:) Go it alone. They're probably grocery shopping for Thanksgiving. I'm glad you're dancing a happy dance and I hope you dance all day tomorrow!

dotty seiter: now playing said...

Laurie, your feedback has me happy dancing again! So glad you like this little moment of grace that made itself known as a painting.

Those football players are waiting in lonnnnnng lines at checkout counters at a Walmart Superstore somewhere, frozen turkeys waiting to go on the conveyor belts!

carol edan said...

Bravo! You won your game big way! Happy Thanksgiving! Happy dancing!

dotty seiter: now playing said...

Thanks, Carol. It was such a happy surprise to have this painting evolve after much struggle—a hard-fought progression down the field, with fumbles and rough tackles to the ground!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, too : )

Lola (Jen Jovan) said...

Fantastic!!!!!! Who could ask for a better outcome? Keep cutting things up! Apparently that's exactly what needs to happen to push the process to something even more magnificent. Kudos!!

dotty seiter: now playing said...

Jen, grateful for your helpful feedback. Thank you! This piece (and two subsequent ones, to be posted soon) really challenged and disgruntled me (I might even have suffered traumatic head injury!) but, yes, the process pushed me to a place of great satisfaction in the end. I'm guessing that I am all the richer as an artist for having navigated the fracas.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. I miss seeing posts from you, but am very excited as I anticipate December : )

Janet Bradish said...

Love the 'fields'! So interesting and your 'play-by-play' was excellent. This one is such a contrast in composition - structure with the squares in the upper right and then the loose 'flung' marks. I liked all that you have posted Dotty. Is great to experiment and cut things up.

Simone said...

You made it to the end!

I especially love the drops of paint of this exquisite color blue/green/grey!

dotty seiter: now playing said...

Janet, awesome to get your input on my journey to this piece. Thank you for giving visual language to your feedback, and thanks for your thumbs up to both experimenting and cutting up.

dotty seiter: now playing said...

I DID make it to the end, and not a moment too soon! The paint I used for the flung drops is a sample jar of latex semi-gloss enamel house paint my granddaughters selected and gave me—I love it, too : )

Sheila said...

I love that even in your darkest creative moments you can see the silver lining. Your collage paper! I have loved all of these Dotty :) Love the mix of shapes in this, and the title rocks completely! Love the teeny, are they there, bits of purple and turquoise! Makes me lean in closer ;)

dotty seiter: now playing said...

Thanks for your comments, Sheila. The feedback keeps me thinking and growing in my creative practice, and so often opens my eyes to seeing and thinking in ways that I would not have otherwise.

Love your teeny-are-they-there description, and love knowing that pulled you in.

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