What Will Transpire?

I have been asked how I come up with the artwork I have been making recently. Honestly, the answer lies somewhere between “by accident” and “by divination.”

Every piece is made up of layers and layers of paint, pastels, pen, pencil, and sometimes collage, most of which is haphazardly applied, and sometimes partially removed. And with every piece, I usually have a least one point at which I think I am going to have to just scrap it because it’s a garbled mess and seems like it has no chance of becoming anything else. Usually that’s when I have to walk away (well, then and when the piece tells me it’s done and I have the urge to keep futzing with it…)

I haven’t scrapped one yet. No matter how tortured I think things are getting (or I am feeling), there comes a time when it starts to “talk” to me and show me what needs to be added or removed next. Then it’s just a matter of listening and going with the flow of the conversation. I know. It sounds loony. But it’s how it works for me.

And to give credit where credit is due, I would not have discovered this process had it not been for the free 25-day challenge offered by Nicholas Wilton of Art2Life during the month of February. (I write a little more about this in my post “And now for something completely different“)

I haven’t done this for every piece, but I have captured parts of the layering process for a couple of them. Everything you see here is still a part of the final piece, whether you see it or not…Lots of parallels to our own development there, as my therapist likes to remind me. Just because you don’t see all or any of each layer anymore, doesn’t mean it’s not still foundational to the final work.

Layering Process: Curiosity
(11″ x 15″ mixed media on paper)

Layering Process: Meditation
(11″ x 15″ mixed media on paper)