More in Real Time

I decided to peel off the painter's tape with the intent to cut what was originally going to be a single piece into four smaller pieces. 

Peeling the tape from this work-in-progress was different from my usual experience of peeling tape away because I don't usually divide an already-started piece with tape and keep working on it as I did in this case.

Check this out:

underlayers of a work-in-progress revealed; 
cruciform format takes stage

Having peeled the tape, I lifted the arm of my paper trimmer and removed what is the center vertical runway in the photo above.

I fully intended to keep trimming, and still do, but I've granted myself 24 hours to be mesmerized by the two resulting pieces before making those cuts.

work in progress A

work in progress B

The Long Way Home

"Fear lives in the head.

And courage lives in the heart.

The job is to get

from one to the other."

"And between the two

is the lump in the throat,"

said Gamache.

    —Louise Penny, The Long Way Home

Naples yellow, Paynes gray, white gesso, a week-long on-again-off-again conversation, lots of time in the lump-in-the-throat space, and now a pause again. 

Will I finish these compositions while they're still on a single sheet of paper separated only by painter's tape, or will I pull off the tape, cut the page into its four components, and complete each individually? I'm going to live with that question a little longer.

work in progress

Capturing Work in Progress

Three weeks ago on Hallowe'en, I started marking up a sheet of white canvas paper with black line work. Got attached, couldn't move forward in the moment, set the page aside.

A week or so later I made some additions. Pressed paused again.

    

Then, over the weekend, I felt a surge of creative energy, taped the page into rough quadrants, and got rolling again.

work in progress

Some artists post reels in which they use time-lapse high-speed photography, giving you the chance to witness their painting process in seconds. I, on the other hand, have never made a reel in my life. Not only that, but also my blog posts turn out to offer you s l o w - m o t i o n still photography, sometimes at the rate of one frame per several weeks, demonstrating my process in real time, not reel time! Thanks for coming along for the ride stroll.

Running With Scissors

 

scribbles, dabs of paint

b&w line exploration—
add, subtract, freeze

oh! snip, snip!

Loosen the Story Knot
5.5 x 7"; acrylic, ink, gelato stick, oil pastel, and collage
on paper
abstract floral
2022

Not in Control. Ever.

Pieces of paper. 

With paint and ink on them. 

In process.

Incomplete.

I'm knotted up. Frozen in place.

If I keep myself from taking a next step because I want to avoid creating something I don't like and can't undo, then I will continue to have these pieces of paper. 

With paint and ink on them.

In process.

Incomplete. 

I could cling to them as they are.

I could throw them away (which, ironically, would be a bold step for me). 

OR I could change them in some way.

And then see what happens next.

Lucky me to have my online art friend Lola as a mentor.

I can feel an internal knot shaking loose …

Back to B&W Addition & Subtraction

I build up b&w #1 with linework and more linework—fat lines, delicate lines, and middle weight lines; sharp edges and rough edges; straight lines, curved lines, lyrical lines, and neurographic lines; using paint, ink, graphite crayon, markers, brushes, dip pen, and my fingers. 

Then I let this exploration sit, not wanting to let go of one bit of it. Every single line is precious!!

b&w #1 at the height of its original additions

Today I finally return to subtract. Mystifyingly difficult for me but I like where I land.

b&w #1, after subtractions

I could walk away and move on to other explorations, but deep inside I know this piece is asking for something further. A bold step of some sort.

Change of Direction

Was poking around looking at art online a few nights ago, bumped into a piece at DailyPaintWorks by an artist named Mary Ellis, and just had to change direction from my current exploration of b&w linework to try my hand at an appropriation. I'd earlier bumped into a stack of 6x6" canvas board paintings on which I'd painted over the original works with chaos layers, and I'd been hankering to do some negative space painting using those chaos layers, and suddenly here was inspiration! Thank you for waking me up to explore something new, Mary!

Ready, set, go!

Same Place, Different Day
6/12/2016

chaos layers painted on top of
Same Place, Different Day
October 2020 (I think)

This Holy Instant
6 x 6"; acrylic, ink, and oil pastel on canvas board
figurative
2022
appropriation, after Mary Ellis, DailyPaintWorks.com,
thank you!

Subtraction/Addition Exercise #3

From No Happy Endings by Nora McInerny: 

The first rule of improv is YES. 

Well, YES, AND …  

the AND is important. 

YES is acceptance and acknowledgment 

of the reality you've been handed. 

AND is where the good part happens. 

The good part is a conjunction? 

You bet it is. 

Because AND is about possibility and opportunity. 

AND includes WHAT IS 

and makes room for WHAT COULD BE. 

AND doesn't require you to love the situation, 

or to like the situation; 

it just requires you to live.

Nora McInerny's book is entitled No Happy Endings, but, just as I finished quoting her above, I bumped into Orson Wells who says:

If you want a happy ending, 

that depends, 

of course, 

on where you stop your story.

So, I said YES to b&w exercise #3, accepting and acknowledging the line work that had brought it to this point:

.

Then I said AND … after which I brought it here:

Subtraction/Addition Exercise #4

 Last seen looking like this,

,

exploration #4 has transformed to become something else.

As is the case with exploration #2, this is where it has landed for now, it may not change further, and all comments, observations, and critique are welcome.

Addition + Subtraction = Decision Overload!

 I think this is where the maximum addition of line stopped before I began subtraction with Exercise #2:

I began veiling, covering, shaping, trying this, trying that. The decision-making was unrelenting. I'm exhausted!

Exhausted, but committed to poking around this assignment. I feel awkward and clumsy. I feel as though I have no rudder. I'm exhausted!

Exhausted, but intrigued by how challenged I feel and by the discoveries and learning that go hand in hand with not knowing what the heck I'm doing.

After many subtractions and probably as many new additions, with the pluses and minuses tripping all over each other, #2 has landed here for now. 

Have I told you I'm exhausted?

All comments/observations welcome!

#2, after math lab!

Today's Black: India Ink

Simone Nijboer's newsletter this morning fires me up to use India ink and a dip pen. The unpredictability of that kind of pen calls out to me as does the spontaneity and freedom with which Simone paints.

So, I pop into my studio on this gloriously sunny and deliciously warm November afternoon with windows wide open, insert a nib into a wooden holder, open a bottle of India ink, and add line work to one of my b&w exercises. 

I also poke around Wikipedia: 

• Basic India ink is composed of a variety of fine soot, known as lampblack, combined with water to form a liquid. No binder material is necessary: the carbon molecules are in colloidal suspension and form a waterproof layer after drying.

• Woods and Woods (2000) state that the process of making India ink was known in China as early as the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, in Neolithic China, whereas Needham (1985) states that inkmaking commenced perhaps as early as 3 millennia ago in China. India ink was first invented in China, but the English term India(n) ink was coined due to their later trade with India.

#5

Staying in the Game

 Big brush additions to b&w #4.

#4

More B&W

 Still in the additive phase with my buncha b&w's.

#3

B&W Unlimited

I've committed myself to working on five black and white play-with-lines-and-markmaking exercises simultaneously. Today I add to each, show you #2, and share a volunteer composition that manifested on our front storm door glass.

#2

volunteer b&w with lines composition