Playing At The Edges
May 8, 2009 by Janice
Pardon me while I indulge in looking at just the marks in the photos. Sigh. I know, they are subtle, barely a hint of color. It’s Private Studio, judgement is reserved.
I am playing at the edges. Where one thing becomes another. Pick a point and a line can grow there. Make another line and suddenly you have planes in the picture. Coax the planes along with subtlety, you can delay which thing or things will really come forward, just for a while. Let it evolve. Eventually the THING becomes apparent. But it is letting go and letting it come to you sometimes, NOT forcing it. Getting out of your own way. That is essential play.
Skill is a huge part of it, but so is intuition.
Funny thing about intuition, the closer you are to logging those 10,000 hours of skilled practice, the more intuition kicks in in ways you really like. These drawings are letting me hone an idea. The drawings themselves will stand alone as part of a series, but they can foster a series of limited edition lithographs, or spawn new paintings, or be torn or cut and used for another piece. It’s all about an open mind. Exploration. But the points and the lines and the planes and the play are essential to the 10,000 hours log.
And they are essential to me.
What happens at “leisure” with an artist is certain idiosyncratic marks keep cropping up. I’ve discussed this with other artists. We all have them. They are as innate as your left handedness or your preference for some song. There is something about those particular marks that is, well, almost inescapable. The thing about those marks is to go with them. Not in a stuck in a rut way, but in an oh what are you telling me now way. It’s important to listen and watch for them, coax them. See where they take you.
So the marks will lead me again today. It’s like that in Private Studio. I’ll just sharpen the pencils, pick a point and jump in. Log some quality hours. I really like what I am seeing.
Of course it is thirsty work. The artist smiles. Yep. it’s Friday. Naughty? Sure. Meet you at the Dragon Room for margaritas later.
How about you? Did you have a good week with your work? Are you exploring?
Comments
10 Responses to “Playing At The Edges”
Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
I like what you said about coaxing it, not forcing it. I had that experience last night as I’m traveling the Oregon Coast photographing. There are so many beautiful sights, yet last night I was getting tired and decided not to work to the end of the evening light. I realized as I made the decision that to do otherwise would be forcing it. The light was there on the ocean, but my mind could not go to it. Today, I feel much fresher and open to what i see. I’ve already coaxed some nice shots from a beautiful lighthouse!
Todd Smith’s last blog post..Preliminary image selection for next year’s calendar
Todd,
It’s easy to forget that doing what we do is performance. It takes a lot if we are truly present. Just being in that late light. That’s plenty. Just being. Especially when you are on an extended location jaunt.
Didn’t you feel so much better and rested?
I better go do some more coaxing myself. Ooh, lighthouses… there’s one in one of my drawings this week.. LOL. I love that.
@Todd
You just reminded me. I have a bunch of photos from the Oregon coast that I took in 2004.
Haven’t got around to painting them yet. I need to put them on my short list!
Does the Oregon coast look like the Washington coast? I’ve only been down as far as Kalaloch and as far north as Tiburron , Ca . Kind of missed Oregon altogether.
Oregon has some pretty cool areas. Huge areas of sandunes. Rocky cliffs. Rainforest beaches.
I followed the coastal highway the whole way. Though I can’t compare to Washingston’s coast, because I went inland to see Mt. St. Helens.
Janice, this post so accurately mirrors what I’ve been feeling lately but having difficulty putting into words. Playing at the edges,letting go not sure what will take shape but giving in to it. This is one of those posts that you read and you are certain it was written just for you. Yes, you truly are an artist.
Karen Swim’s last blog post..Let’s Connect – Maybe
Karen,
Aww, thanks. Some of that at the edges “wandering” time is exactly what drives the rest of it. I am so glad this spoke to you.
Am I exploring? Hmmm… always.
You move your pen in a way not uncertain of going with it, but also not knowing where it will take you. Certain you will go, but not certain what you will discover.
Ooooh — I love that!
It’s a bit like haiku poetry, with no capitals, no punctuation, open at both ends. You come into it from wherever you’ve been and you leave with a little gem, not knowing where you’ll go, but you go enriched from having passed through…
Beautiful blog. I’ll be back…
Barb Hartsook’s last blog post..Why Does an Artist Paint? Or a Writer Write?
Barb,
So nice to see you here. Glad you jumped right in. It ’s just like that isn’t it? Process. And discovering treasures. You have to be willing to go there. To let go and just be with the tools and the time.
I just visited your site and what scrumptious descriptions I found. Yummy. A new box of crayons?Eternal joy. Stays with us forever I think.
[...] Or ones that create small sanctuaries. [...]