I am so totally glad I set myself the challenge of doing a series of cruciform composition exercises.
A few days ago I had maybe two wisps of ideas in mind, and I began noodling around. Sometimes I'd hold in consciousness the guidelines for the Jane Davies assignment that got me going on this series, but mostly I forgot.
What an adventure. Make a mark, see what it tells me about where to go next. Plenty of ugly en route but, more and more, I see any moment en route as just what it is: a moment. A moment in which something is in front of me, and I can let it be or change it. The tasks of daily living interrupt the process but each time I come back to my paintings I have the same conditions: one moment's perceptions, and the chance to leave the painting as is, or change it in some way.
Again and again.
This series is just so appealing to me now in its series-ness!
I love how all the pieces fed off and informed the others as I created them, and I love how they now do so as completed pieces. I love how they can each stand alone, and I love how they stand together—arms slung around each other's shoulders, equipoised between their differences and their affinities.
I am agog, yet again!, by the miracle in creativity: when I woke up this morning, these four paintings did not exist.
Now they do.
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| Quinacridone Tetraptych |
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| Quinaptych 1 4x4", acrylic, collage, and ink on canvas paper abstract 2016 [not for sale] |
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| Quinaptych 2 4x4", acrylic, collage, and ink on canvas paper abstract 2016 [not for sale] |
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| Quinaptych 3 4x4", acrylic, collage, and ink on canvas paper abstract 2016 [not for sale] |
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| Quinaptych 4 4x4", acrylic, collage, and ink on canvas paper abstract 2016 [not for sale] |
6 comments:
WOW! WOW! WHOA! WOW! Love the landscapeyness of #1, #2 makes me think of a Geisha in her fine clothing, arms reaching high in prayer. (Do Geisha pray ;-/) #3 is so perfect in it's simplicity, and #4 caught my eye first. The contrast, repeating patterns, and the warmth is just so welcoming! Joy!
Thanks for your comments, Sheila, particularly the comments about each individual painting. Your mention of the "landscapeyness" of #1 was fun because just a few minutes ago that painting caught my eye on the table where it's sitting and its landscapeyness caught my notice also. This series was way fun for me, with results very pleasing to my eye. And a good thing, too, because in the day or two between my painting it and posting it I worked on something else that was far less pleasing!
Hi Dotty,
"When I woke up this morning, these four paintings didn't exist". You just nailed what it's all about, in my opinion. You created something that is timeless, and it didn't exist yesterday. How blessed we are!I LOVE all of these! I agree with Sheila about the geisha, and I love the simplicity of #3. #4 is high energy! But IF I had to pick a favorite (as hard as that is, because I just love them all), I have to say #1 knocks my socks off! The colors, the landscape-ness, the composition. It looks like I'm walking through the familiar paths through the sand down to Lake Michigan. Sweet!
Also, lucky Ann- love that card!
Laurie, thanks for all your feedback!
Isn't it just a miracle, the whole mystery of creating a painting? I am left slack jawed in wonder again and again.
Love that both you and Sheila see Geisha in #2. Yes!
Your saying #1 looks like you're walking through the familiar paths through the sand down to Lake Michigan made me smile. First thing this morning, ahead of reading your comments and Sheila's, #1 caught my eye and I saw landscape and sand path through beach grasses for the first time. I love finding imagery in abstract.
Thanks, too, for your comment re the card for Ann.
Hi Dotty!
Yes, I had the same thought as Sheila: something like clothing, cloths. Wonderful. So nice to see you experimenting. I have been away for quite some days, and I see all those new things!
Wow!
Yes, experiments and experiments and experiments! I am making more messes than ever, and I am grateful to be doing so.
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