Composed

I don't always feel composed.

But a post by Jane Davies grabs my attention, lights me up, and gives me new fodder with which to think about composition.

“Throughout my process of painting, I am engaged in the act of composing. The visual elements and their relationships to one another change many times during the course of creating a painting. The composition is in constant flux until it isn’t. The composition of the finished painting (if it finishes, which not all my paintings do), is an unknown until it reveals itself through the process of composing.”

Life makes a mark; I respond. Throughout the process of living each day I am engaged in the act of composing, engaged in call-and-response, always in flux.

I don't always feel composed.

I am always composing. 

Yes.

The Friend Who Asks to Paint with You and
Drags You into Your Studio
4 x 5.25" postcard; acrylic, ink, oil pastel, and collage on card stock
abstract 2021

Faces 21

Good thing Jen Jovan posts on her blog regularly, so as to blow life into me when I've lost my blogging steam. Today she reminds me, via poet Mary Oliver, to stand still and learn to be astonished.

I am so in need of this reminder, this reminder to practice.

Every moment is a moment to stand still and be astonished.

In one such moment I notice the village vicar in a novel set in post-World War I English countryside. He refers to his work as being called to hatch, match, and dispatch.

Delight and astonishment! Hatch, match, dispatch!

The Friend Who Teaches Me How to Knot Thread
9 x 12"; acrylic, ink, pastel, and collage on drawing paper
abstract face
2021
$70

back story:
chaos layers, blind contour drawing,
and tissue collage

Faces 20

 I'm all hesitation I-don't-know-where-to-start this morning. Again.

Then, a Jen Jovan blog post arrives in my inbox. With these words from a poem by David Whyte:

start with the first

thing

close in,

the step

you don't want to take.

Ok, ok, ok.

work in progress

Faces 16

Two more new friends in the making. 

I'm setting up four starts for the second lesson in the self-paced The Art of Abstract Faces course I'm adventuring through with artist/instructor Amanda Evanston blazing the way. She's doing her darnedest to move me past my hesitations, my tightnesses, my discomforts. 

Working on multiple pieces at once or in a series is such a good idea. Grateful to have Amanda encouraging me to do so.

face in progress

face in progress

Faces 15

So funny to observe the hesitation, the nervousness, the maybe-I-need-to-do-something-in-the-kitchen-first angst that can—and does—often precede my undertaking a next step in my studio. Today, it was picking up a marker and doing some new blind contour drawings that had me feeling unduly timid.

Eventually took the plunge:

face in progress
(this guy is making me look relaxed!)

face in progress
(can you see the stalker in the background?!)

Faces—Blind Date!

Between winter snow flurries I've witnessed a flurry of a different sort. A short while back, a collector purchased The Friend Who Writes Letters Longhand. When Longhand found out she'd be moving to new digs at the end of February she was very excited!

Then a few weeks later, the same collector expressed interest in purchasing The Friend Who Uses an Enameled Spoon as a Postcard and inquired as to whether I thought Longhand and Enameled Spoon would "go together" well. 

Omg! Matchmaking!

We both agree they'll make an adorable couple. Plus, they have in common their inclination to correspond in ways other than standard social media. Really, what are the chances?

Well! Longhand got all in a dither when she found out Enamaled Spoon would also be moving to the same new digs at the end of February! She immediately pulled off the years-old,  insubstantial tired shirt she had on and spent much of Saturday ratting through her closet looking for something to wear on moving day—she tried on this, tried on that, tossed stuff on the bed, discarded items on the floor, preened in front of a mirror, and tested touches of makeup before she finally settled on a look that showed off her features to alluring advantage without being over the top. 

She's a little more relaxed now, but she is counting the days till moving day.

Faces 14

I have a fierce urge to shove this guy out in high winds to rough up that mop on his head—he is in desperate need of a hair out of place!

I'm laughing to myself as I realize this is not the first time I've had an urge to take charge of someone else's hair. Years ago I tutored an engaging bright boy who was middle school age. For the two or three years I worked with him he sported a 'rattail' hairstyle, a style characterized by a long thin braid growing downward from the back of his head. Can't tell you how many times I fantasized pulling out a pair of shears and snipping off that 10" braid! It was just begging me to make mischief!

The Friend Who Signs Every Single Photo
of Himself in My Senior Yearbook
9 x 12"; acrylic, ink, oil pastel, pencil, and collage
on drawing paper
abstract face
2021
$45

messy middle flashback:

blind contour drawing 
on top of cool-colors chaos layer

Faces 12

Is there a genetic marker related to political interest, intelligence, and aptitude? If so, I am missing that gene. 

I am just not, by nature, a political creature. Never have been.

The Friend Who Gives Me a Crash Course
on Current Events at Lunch So I Can Pass 
My Sixth Period Honors History Quiz
9 x 12"; acrylic, ink, and collage on drawing paper
abstract face
2021
$45