This is the latest mess (19 x 19, hot press). Abner and I did this as a celebration of his naming, and because I had a hunch that I could not draw my way inside the garden walls. I'd done four separate rounds of drawing, and erased the entire surface all four times. So I just started painting. I finished the first round this evening, and immediately saw all sorts of things that made me get out the white acrylic to erase, and then the neon orange pencil to swipe at it. The image above was between the acrylic and the pencil. Next, the big puffy brush (no name yet) was brought out and lots of water all over with the new luscious rose paint and a little bit of green and ultramarine.
And voila (as Grenouille would say). A mess. But a mess with possibilities and nothing sacred anywhere. ("Precious" as one of my art professors used to call it - the little pretty thing that's too nice to paint over, and so it skews every decision after that - do yourself a favor and paint over it right away, that was his advice. Good advice, generally, in my experience.)I have no idea what this will become. I'm still trying to get into the garden. (Surely there won't be Mr. MacGregor there, do you think?)
9 comments:
I'll wait to see what comes next. If you run into Mr. McGregor, be sure to hold on to your jacket and shoes!
I'm glad you found David Kramer. He's friends in the meat world with a friend of mine and he doesn't even know it!
Ah, the concentric circles grow....
I love the advice of your professor ... I think I will live by that in my life in all areas! most especially in my art... I think I am struggling with that same sort of thinking right now with this stupid painting I will post tonight ... it's not precious at all, it's plain boring and I don't know what else to do with it so I keep messing around wasting my time...you will see what I mean, I think..
I liked your painting before and I see things in the newer version too... like birds...I adore the color! what is the rose? interesting you were not successful in your usual methods of drawing things first...why do you suppose that is?
i seem to be missing a chunk of info here...what is with the garden and not getting in ... if you do get in, I am sure macgregor will hack you to bits...gardeners are like that.
Oh! A feast for the eyes! I love messes because they are so full of possibility. Not yet committed to a form, they can be anything! I have pictured at least five different scenarios while studying this. I can't wait to see what will emerge! :)
Lisa - I have never lost a shoe, but I have lost more than one jacket (though, to my knowledge, none ended up as scarecrows).
Linda - I'll be over to look shortly at your current situation...
As for the garden - my problem these last few weeks is that some things have been written as comments on other people's blogs, leaving the story a bit patchy here at ColorSweetTooth. I am trying to get into my inner world, my heart, to paint there without rules. That much I've said before. What I came to feel with the last painting (the one that is now last night's mess, and was four different drawings, none right) is that I am outside an extremely large garden, with a high wall (no peeking) and I can't get in. Inside is that land without rules, where my inner child can paint. That's my Hundertwasser place, where flies my version of the Twittering Machine, the Jabberwocky, etc. I know I'll get in there, but not how or when, yet. I wasn't content with any of the four drawings because they weren't THERE, and I wasn't interested in painting something else outside there. Finally I just plunged in and painted, resulting in last night's highly colored mess.
I can picture the garden walls so well I could almost draw them. They are bathed in ruddy end of day sunlight (my favorite, the last hour before sunset), and they are of a sandstone, almost mauve in color, but enriched by the gorgeous light. Ivy and vines festoon the top, but there is no chink or gap or gate anywhere, and I know my inner artist/child has walked miles around this wall without finding a way in.
I'm happy to stay here a while and see what happens. I can feel inside me where this is, and where I might get to if I can get inside.
Genie Sea - The fact that it's all indeterminate - no known destination - is why I could go ahead and paint. The drawing was all going to the wrong places.
So,is this the reflecting pool where you see a bit of the wall, only it turns out that diving in takes you to an underground tunnel possibly leading where you'd like to go? Or will other adventures ensue?
I assumed, after thinking about it, you were talking about something like painting the inside of your heart...getting to it...
what surprises me is there's a whole terminology I didn't understand and a garden I didn't even know the location of nor it's name!
I like the Peter Rabbit reference, btw.
if that is a mess - i cant wait to see the trash.
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