Up & Down & All Over the Place
Hiking uphill, hiking downhill.
Painting paper top end up and top end down.
Did I have any idea that these little sketches would rise up out of my imagination and settle down on paper today at the wobbly table in our West Virginia State Park cabin?
I did not.
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A bit of art history—when I stopped working on yesterday’s sketches, I had some leftover paint mixed up that I couldn’t make myself throw away. I grabbed a brush to set up today’s sketches with green swirls and scribbles all over a taped page. First thing this morning, I added left-handed (non-dominant) asemic writing to each square and then used an eye dropper to get some India ink on the page.
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8 responses to “Up & Down & All Over the Place”
Simone, thanks. Dividing the page in advance, as I’ve done with my sketches of the past three days and also did recently with a few other paintings, can provide interesting found compositions. Most typically, the process is one where you paint the whole page with what is a bit like what I call ‘chaos’ painting, adding layer after layer. Then, when it feels ‘right’ to do so according to your own sensibilities, you let it dry and remove the tape, leaving tidy white frames around several small compositions. Ironically, on this page, without intending to, after I took the three steps of green scribble swirls, asemic writing, and eye-dropper India ink marks, I began developing each space as a recognized separate composition, even though I went through the same step in each space before moving on to another step. (Hope you can make sense of this description!)
They depict the “up & down & all over the place” perfectly! I couldn’t love them more. They look like they should be the photos is a children’s book about some grand adventure. Thank you for sharing your process!….and I love that you had no idea where you were going when you put those first green scribbles down. Well done. Happy hiking and arting!
Thanks for your feedback, MaryAnn. Love your notion that these paint sketches could be photos in a children’s picture book about a grand adventure! Totally had no idea where I’d go with those first green scribbles in terms of content, but felt guided by the structure of the taped grouping of six related spaces and their inherent limitations. Hiking and arting have been happy happy, thanks!
That she most certainly will, Sheila!
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