In my last post, Exploring Borders, I shared the first piece in a new series of mixed media on paper works. Now that I've fully settled in to the exploration, I'm here to report that progress is slow....but like a long slow meal that allows you to savor the experience, I'm fully immersed and enjoying the moments. Engaging in this kind of tiny, repetitive mark-making is like a kind of homecoming for me. I delight in the push-pull of watching the pattern and richness slowly unfold, even as I become antsy to move faster. My sessions last only an hour before my eyes start to lose focus!
As I've mentioned in more than one post, I am truly in the flow when the creative process becomes a kind of conversation between the piece unfolding and my inner being. The quiet and slowness allows me to understand the content. The truth of that experience came upon me once again as I realized the piece above to be a contrast between the worlds of the micro and macro. The right side of the drawing speaks of the micro.....tiny seeds, or perhaps cells, filling the rectangular shapes ....a cross section of some botanical form, perhaps? At a certain moment, I knew that the opposing side will express the macro, perhaps with countless dots, made with paint and ink, that suggest galaxies...the infinite cosmos. Ultimately, I have a sense that those worlds are not so far apart. The paradox is that they are not polar opposites perhaps, as we often think, but part one infinite whole. Infinitely small and vast, simultaneously.
This piece above (details below), also in progress, is related to a kind of fascination I have with language, with the alphabet and with words. In a way, it's somewhat like the childhood game of connect-the-dots. Any number of us may experience the same set of spoken or written words, yet we will construct different meanings, based on all manner of variables....background and experience, our physical boundaries, mood, etc. Each of sees the world through a different prism and sometimes we see the same set of words through such opposite sets of lenses, it's no wonder there is so much turmoil in the world.
On the right, lines of text are represented by the tiny dots of ink on each line....words or pearls on a string.
On the left, a scattering of dots....maybe those very words on the right, fill the space and are connected to form a constructed shape. But those dots could be connected in any number of different ways to make different shapes....to create different ideas, meanings and experiences.
It's all a metaphor for the complexities we encounter through life....making art is how I make sense of the world.
The two little drawings above are about to be listed in my Etsy shop, MissouriBendStudio. These are a couple of the daily drawings (3" x 3") that I made in early 2013. You know, when you make a daily drawing....as in, a small drawing every day....before you know it, you are swimming in little works of art. If you do that over a period of years, well....there seems no end to them! Rather than sitting in little piles in my studio, they are slowly making their way out into the world. If anyone is interested in gathering a set of these, let me know and I am happy to work with you to create a delightful grouping!
Enjoy your weekend, wherever you are!
We have a friend who is an artist. She does a small painting every day and now her collection (and sales) are impressive. What a creative way to savor slowness.
ReplyDeleteHi Rory....good for your friend! Yes, the accumulation of days is quite something to behold, especially when you have some tangible thing to hold on to, like a painting or drawing, as a souvenir and a reminder of the passage of time. It is a way to savor slowness. Cheers and thanks for your comment!
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