Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Fathoming the Depths

Yesterday I could not fathom what I would do with my current experiment in progress. Add color? Paint over the whole thing with Mars Black again and take it from the top?

I'd left free-and-easy on shore and was way out in the choppy waters of fussy-and-frantic. Never a good thing.

Well, actually, it can be a good thing. It can wake me up.

And it did.

I woke up and knew I needed to get away from fussy and back to bold, or even over to reckless.

I pulled out oil pastels and, before I could think, circled a bunch of spaces on my painting. No sooner done than I grabbed a brush and painted over all the space surrounding the circles. Added some dimensional fabric paint lines.

Done.

And utterly content.

I keep staring through the holes I've punched through the fabric of the universe and I'm mesmerized by the galaxies I see in the distance.*

Portals
6x6", acrylic, collage, ink, and oil pastel on gessobord
abstract
2016

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*From this:


to this:


Ya gotta wonder!





6 comments:

Sheila said...

This is totally awesome!!

dotty seiter: now playing said...

Thanks, Sheila. This piece has been a gift. In its original inception, as I reported, it bothered me, and I just knew something was off no matter how hard I tried to pretend it was OK, and no matter that someone else might find it appealing. So I went back in to keep playing, and the new inception just feels totally right. I feel centered and quietly energized every time I look at it. The gift is not only a painting I like, but the experience of trusting my gut, and getting back in there to mess around.

Simone said...

That is the miracle from just going on and on and on until it is satisfying.

Hats off!

It is absolutely beautiful, as well as in process as in product...

dotty seiter: now playing said...

Thanks, Simone.

Isn't it just Big Magic?! I am so loving process these days!

I hope you see your influence in this piece, both in terms of finding the joy in the messy middle of process, and in my decision to define some shapes and then paint over the space in between. You inspired me : )

Sheila said...

Such A Lovely lesson. I saw it last night on my phone, and looking at it larger today, on the computer... love the texture of the white line, and the soft yellow (ochre?), the shades of colors mixing, the scribbles and marks. So happy for you, your torturous, frustrating, joyful, mystical learning :)

dotty seiter: now playing said...

Thanks again, Sheila. Great fun to be hanging out in the world of art together : )

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