restrained sweetness
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010
I was mucking around with paper yesterday, seeing what I can do with these little drawings. I had so many ideas, but the paper I was using wasn’t holding up well. I ended up going for the good old arches, and including a painted tone on a pencil drawing. Now I think I am in love. This little drawing went from a sketch in my book, to a sacred little object. The amount of clean white paper on the border, the simple lines, the reserved paint, is so restrained and minimal, it makes the sweetness and simplicity of the image so much “louder”.
As you know I have been struggling with finding a way to print drawings on the printer. It just brings so much more to the table than I really want to deal with. Its adding a whole process to the production of the “thing” that I just don’t want to deal with. I want to create objects of art that have lives of their own, and that exist because I handled, loved, and crafted them. Not that I am against reproduction, its just that I have mountains of original work that I would love people to have on their walls, rather than a photocopy. So. I have been thinking about creating these precious drawings, that can be reproduced by hand. At this point that seems more feasible than paying premiums for a print shop to do it. And this way the product is an “original”.
In a way.
But then, that also seems weird doesn’t it?
three little paintings. the whole suburbia, car dependency, road, interchanges, and sprawl “thing”. It gets to you sometimes. but then, these are some pretty little paintings. So maybe its not all so bad.
thinking about green tea, I painted this yesterday. Also inspired by the wet green I see through the window.
Hey. I have been doing these little studies with scraps I have lying around. I am loving the “object” quality that happens when you paint small. They are like little Polaroids.
Here is a painting I did as a commission for a friend. She bought it for her husband for his birthday. They are the proud parents of a new baby girl. Yup, thats them in the picture. The text is a prayer for children by Abdu’l-Baha.
Hiya!
I drew this picture, and then made the image in photoshop. I am really digging the pencil sketch with simple graphics. Its a immediate and raw way to get ideas out there. The image of daddy and baby, out for a walk in the burbs is both sweet, and telling. There is just so much mixed up emotion for me in the way our cities are designed and then how we use them. We create our own path, with those that have been created for us.
I did a painting workshop last night with group of moms. What fun. Nights like this make me just so happy to do what I do. The painting above is the mock-up I did for the class. Because it was a group of absolute beginners, we had a pretty rigid structure. This usually makes things less intimidating for people who find paint rather daunting. We did a step by step process, using masking, and traced shapes for a composition. I also restricted people to three colors, which helps with preventing the painting from getting muddy or too busy. The ladies each completed a piece by the end of the night, that they can frame. All of the work was lovely, and it was a pleasure to see what people produce within such parameters.
Everytime I do one of these I learn so much.
We did a last minute trip to Edmonton to do some painting workshops.
wishing spring would hurry up.
