Apps

I never know if or when an app will come into play with any given painting.

By app I mean application of something I practiced in a class lesson, or learned in a book, or noticed in someone else's art.

Today I 'downloaded' all sorts of 'apps' and pressed them into service:

• the contrast app
• the variety app
• the complementary colors app
• the transparency/opacity app
• the lines app
• the veiling app
• the neutrals app
• the negative space app, and
• the sunny, blue-skied, late summer day app.

Before, during, after:

from this 8x10" start,



to this 4x5" quadrant,



to this coverup,



to a completed painting.

Those Hours Spent in the Resplendent Light of the Outer Orchard
4x5"; acrylic, ink, pencil, and soluble pastels on paper,
mounted on manila stock
abstract
2017
sold

Little Roots, Taking Hold

Picked up the last quadrant from a start painted on vacation in New Brunswick.

With no attention to final outcome, played around with some marks, just making additions as they occurred to me.

And then, of course, attachment—little roots, taking hold!

work in progress;
working title: Making Messy #4

In Opposition

I could tell a story about creating this painting, and—believe me—I've been in opposition with myself and telling a grouchy story for days, mostly about fussy/overthought vs. loose/intuitive. Every story needs a good conflict, ya know?

But it would just be a story.*

Instead, I'm going to take a step back, turn this little painting upside down, and practice noticing artistic elements that oppose each other visually.

A Story of Contrasts, by Dotty Seiter

• red vs. its complement

• straight edges vs. curved

• sharp edges vs. soft

• physically flat surfaces vs. textured/dimensional

• thin lines vs. thicker

• busy areas vs. quiet

• bright colors vs. dull

• dark hues vs. light

• veiled lines vs. bold.

The end!

In the Morning We Would Wake and There Would Be Coffee
4.4 x 6"; acrylic, ink, collage, and oil pastel on paper
abstract floral
2017

*I did, in fact, tell my internal grouchy story via asemic writing that shows up palimpsestically in the veiled background behind the blossoms here—I let my conflicted mood rip and move on outta me!