About 5 years ago, I spent Thanksgiving with my lifetime best friend and her family out in California. Her daughter is an actress / singer / dancer / director / writer in musical theatre. Immensely talented, but not one to ever rest on her laurels, she gave me my current mantra for life and living: Be bold and be brave!
It became my New Year's motto the following January and I have returned to it often in the ensuing years. It is not easy to live up to its full meaning! I will admit it has inspired me when I felt tired and totally un-inspired. Just thinking about the words has managed to push me out of my comfort zone over the years, to try to do things that I would have been satisfied to watch others do, once upon a time. As a result, I find myself challenging complacency in myself and in others on a regular basis. I often find that I want more for other folks than they want for themselves. I cannot have much effect on them, but I can control my thoughts, my actions, and in most cases my responses to the stimuli in my world.
In an effort to do more creatively, and to have the time, I gave up television 3 years ago, reclaiming the mindless hours I had spent watching the few shows that I followed. I was surprised to learn that I didn't miss TV. My daughter had done the same thing when she cancelled cable the year before. I was amazed at the time. When I thought about it, I had to ask myself, 'Why not?' It has been an amazing experience to have the 3-to-4 additional hours every evening to spend doing something constructive...pushing myself, risking and learning. Whether I read, paint, crochet or sew, I love the fact that I have something tangible to show for the hours.
I have written about creativity in this blog many times. I am a firm believer that we all have a solid reservoir of creativity that is just waiting to be tapped. Sometimes...actually, many times...when I have worked with adults who desire to get in touch with their own creativity, I have found that it takes digging down deep inside oneself to let it out. Betsy Dillard Stroud, a well-known abstract painter, summed it up very well when she stated, 'To be creative, you simply open a door, the door of the subconscious mind, and allow thoughts and images to emerge unedited.' Frankly, this is much easier said than done.
Several posts previously, I talked about painting with a brayer instead of a traditional brush or paint knife. I've employed this method for the past few years, and have found it very satisfying. Lately, I have wanted to take it to another level, but wasn't sure how to do so. Inspiration often comes from doing mundane tasks, such as cleaning out closets or drawers. About a month ago, I was organizing the contents of some storage bins in my studio space and came across several linoleum blocks that I had carved to fulfill an experimental process. I had worked a pattern into their surface, used them, and then put them away. I had forgotten the interesting patterns that I had achieved with a mono print of their painted surface on a blank piece of paper. I set them aside, thinking I would use them once more.
A week or so later, when I was on just such a quest to personally satisfy my need to risk something and experiment a bit, I decided to play around with the blocks. I prepared a limited palette of acrylic paints, placing them in containers that would keep out the air, so I would have the luxury of using them over an extended period of time (normally, acrylic paint dries very fast!).
Deciding to work small, I used pre-cut watercolor paper cards, 3 1/2" X 4 1/2", of various weights. Using a brayer to roll on thin layers of dark pigments, I managed to create a variety of textured patterns. I followed up with rust, gold, and, in some cases, a teal green. I used the same colors repeatedly on about 50 cards, establishing different patterns of form and color. Some of these images were left as is, as they had a sense of near completeness. Minor additions of color, and on some a sandstone-block-printed Chinese character in traditional red, was all they needed to reach the finished stage...
Because I had done many small works with this process, I had enough to allow me to experiment further. After this paint application had dried, I painted the surface of the linoleum blocks with light pigments diluted with gloss medium, printing them by hand, pressing the block directly onto the small pieces of watercolor paper. I rubbed the back side of the paper vigorously and evenly to ensure a transfer of paint in the pattern of the carved block. Here are 9 examples of the variety of pattern is achieved with this simple method...
Several very pleasing designs emerged. The block prints looked very much like the wax-resistant patterns of batik fabric. I found this experiment most satisfying, Taking the idea further, I added more colors and began to do all types of print and texture combinations. I felt compelled, and literally could not stop experimenting! Thus, some 30-odd tiny works of art were conceived and borne to fruition. They are simply named Brayer Batiks. I later varnished them to further enhance the various layers of color. After they dried, I was very excited about the way they looked, and went so far as to imagine what they might look like as a repeated pattern in fabric.
I also love playing around with collage. Collage means simply glued paper. If the paper is also painted, it can add greater dimension to a finished work. With a few, I continued experimenting, added portions of painted watercolor paper to add interest, a focal point or texture. There are a few examples...
I was having entirely too much fun to stop! I began to imagine what it might look like if I went larger using similar techniques. I took it up a notch and worked on a larger ground surface, literally going through the same process on a 22" X 30" piece of Arches CP 140# rough watercolor paper. From the beginning, I felt the results were mixed. My brayer ground painting was colorful, but of more mid-tones rather than darker darks...
I made the first layer of pattern from the block dark, seeking contrast. Not really satisfied with the look, I went in an opposite direction and applied the gloss medium thinned white. The size of the block was problematic with the larger ground. The initial application seemed to 'float'. I added more individual prints, until I had an established pattern of printed images, a type of asymmetry, yet with a sense of balanced form. I didn't have anything specific in mind when I set out, but an abstracted Log Cabin quilt pattern definitely wasn't the intention.
What did I learn? I learned that it is easier to set up a pleasing composition of design elements of a smaller picture plane. Some designs do not become more successful on a larger scale. I learned that it is much more difficult to print a small block on a large surface and get an even transfer of paint in order to create the desired pattern. I learned that it is risky to take a concept to a larger scale without losing some of the pleasing qualities that existed when it was smaller. Most importantly, I learned that one can literally have too many choices! No matter what we do, how well something turns our, or how poorly...it is the lesson that we must not lose!
This, the name for the piece...Too Many Choices.
Would I do it again? You bet! I have never wanted to be predictable or stuck in a particular style or genre of painting. It is probably one of the reasons that I paint in several genres, bouncing between them, wanting to express myself in different ways, depending on how I feel or what is inspiring at a particular time or place. An artist has to decide whether they are an outcome painter or a process painter. I am definitely a process painter, as it's all about the journey.
Not desiring to be known for a particular look that some would call a style identifies my creative work in some respects. This can be seen as a plus or a curse, depending on your point of view. One could say I have no style. To me, that is a compliment. I like the idea of an independent, one-of-a-kind visual expression that makes a piece of paper with paint on it art, and no just a stylistic rendering. Getting to the point of innovative, original expression is another matter. It is one of the reasons I return to blank white paper again and again.
There is one element that is present in all of my creative endeavors: color. However, there are other times when I seek the quiet, subtle nuance of a hue to express emotion, mood and light. The small works depicted in this post are examples of 'tonal' paintings. Daylight allows the full spectrum of dark, nuanced color to be viewed and enjoyed at its fullest.
When I use color with joy and abandonment, or with finely tuned, subtle nuance, I come closer to finding my place, self-actualizing, being bold and brave, risking the success of a creative piece as I push myself and experiment. To me, that's when my creative effort is worth rubies...and all the time, expense and trouble!
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