Orchard

// September 2nd, 2010 // 11 Comments » // creativity, painting

Wouldn’t it be nice to have some sort of magic wand, or marvelous technological art alarm that could replace the tricky business of determining when a creative piece is finished?

I’ve always found finishing a stressful act, whether it’s a poem, painting, blog post, or drawing (drawings are the absolute worst for me). Calling the piece finished is just so difficult.

Part of it is being critical of my own technical limits. There are always weak spots that can use a little tightening up, some editing or a wee addition to make it just so.

But too often that last little dab, or word, or pencil stroke can just throw the whole thing off. I’ve had that happen way too many times.

I called “finished” on this painting today, and signed it.

Then I saw a small section that could use a little work, so I worked it. Then I waved it round to dry those last few dabs of paint and scanned it before I could change my mind.

In the time I’ve spent writing I’ve checked out the image a few times and noticed small changes I could make.

But, no. No!

Stop it I say to myself. It’s done.

*****

How do you go with finishing your creative projects? Does it stress you out? Does it just make you sigh with relief?

Gypsy Fire (Part Two)

// August 17th, 2010 // 6 Comments » // curiosity, painting

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Wrestlemania with colour. That’s what yesterday’s painting session felt like.

Colour is something I really have difficulties with, most of my art has taken the form of black and white inked cartoons or drawings. One of the ‘rules’ I have for my blog is that each post is illustrated by me, in colour.

I’m slowly getting there and have noticed a shift with my level of confidence. Whenever I used to hit a ‘colour wall’, where I had totally messed up, I used to thow my hands up, throw the artwork into the nearest bin, and either start again or, more often, return to familiar ground and work in black and white for a while. What I’ve noticed more recently is that when I get stuck with colour I start getting excited about the prospect of getting in there and figuring it out.

This is a real shift.

I’ve made some total messes with my blog illustrations, but the pressure I put on myself to illustrate each post is starting to pay off. I’m still stumbling around colour-wise but I’m starting to see a difference.

So, the Gypsy Fire painting is moving along and I can see real colour problems with the backgound, it’s very gaudy and needs work. I’m using it as an opportunity to play a bit with glazes and try to experiment and pull it togetjher.

What I do like is how the Gypsy caravan came out. It’s almost exactly how I had envisioned it. The caravan is gaudy too, but it’s a Gypsy kind of gaudy and I was going for that. Intentionally gaudy is o.k., it’s the unintentionally gaudy parts of the painting that I’d like to sort out.

I don’t want to be a realistic painter, i never have. I want things to be off-balance, and wobbly, and weird, when it comes to form and colour (I actually think the world is off-balance, wobbly and weird, so maybe I’m a realist painter after all!). But, as much as possible, I want these to be choices that I make. I love happy accidents, but also want to be able to get the effects that I want without having to rely on happy accidents arriving.

The way I see it, the more skill I’m able to develop, the more value I’ll get from those happy accidents anyway. I’m looking forward to the next wrestling match.

Illustration Friday: Star Gazing

// August 14th, 2010 // 8 Comments » // illustration friday

Hi Illustration Fridayers!

When I saw this week’s theme I remembered an old sketch I had done, and knew I had to do a colour version just to have another shot at it. I love the idea behind this–that there are galaxies outside of us, but also within. I really want to develop it a bit more and make a painting from it one day.

Gypsy Fire (work in progress)

// August 9th, 2010 // 6 Comments » // work in progress

This is a painting I’m working on for the Creative Every Day challenge. The theme for the month is ‘Fire’.

I’m enjoying this one, I’m really trying to play with vibrant colours and more movement in the figures. This one started with a beautiful fiery orange underpainting and then I layered that buttery blue all over.

I could paint blue and orange paintings every day for my whole life and not get bored–it’s my favourite colour combination. So this one is a pleasure to work on.

I’ve had it out all afternoon thinking it over and just letting the painting speak to me. I’m getting very fond of this couple, having loads of fun imagining their history together.

At this stage, I think there are a couple of elements that I want to add in tomorrow, I have something in mind. I’m nervous to shove in what I think needs to go there, but I’m sure it’ll work out. We’ll see how things go when I wake up.

*****

Singing The World Alive

// June 29th, 2010 // 6 Comments » // creativity, curiosity, singing

“… there never was a world for her

Except the one she sang, and singing made.”

Wallace Stevens

*****

At school we learned about the Australian Aboriginal concept of Song-lines, and the stories of Creator Beings who criss-crossed the continent singing the world alive.

I love the idea of the world being sung into life. Just holding the idea gives me a heightened awareness of the life pulsating all around me, even from supposedly inanimate objects.

*****

I was always self conscious about my own singing abilities. I told myself that I was unable to sing, the same way all people (in Western cultures, anyway) tell themselves they can’t do something.

Singing Memories:

Standing up as the old people sang hymns in church, and being struck dumb in a sea of fear.

The school choirmaster walking behind us, listening as we sang, and banging us on the head with his balled up fist if we were out of tune

Being in a band as a teenager and having to get fall-down drunk to be able to sing.

Hearing my wife sing for the first time. *Bliss*

*****

Singing the world into existence? Not my strong point. But I still love the idea, and think there must be an equivalent way that not-so-great singers contribute to bringing this world into existence.

When I think of singing, what comes to mind is:

The act of opening required in order to let the sound out.

Listening, adjusting the sound as it moves out into the world.

The content, what is being sung.

The effect on others as the sounds reach them, and shape their experience of the world, even if only for a moment.

If I think of singing in this way, then I can see how in some small way, my actions can become a kind of singing, too.

*****

So, in what ways do I sing world alive?

Through:

My drawings and paintings

My arms when I swing my boys around, and when I hold my wife

Words arranged into poems

Stories I make up for our older son

Cooking food for people I love

Reading, and what I choose to read.

Catching insects in cups and escorting them outside safely

Secret rock sculptures I leave in the garden, for people to see, or not.

The kind of work I spend my time doing

The kind of thoughts I spend my time thinking.

My serial failed attempts at maintaining Meditation/Yoga/Vegetarian practices, and my commitment to keep coming back to them.

*****

And when I do actually sing?

When I let my creaky voice come out it has its own wobbly charm. Babies smile, and it’s never really as bad as I make it out to be.

In what ways do you sing the world alive?

The Rarest Angels

// May 27th, 2010 // 6 Comments » // creativity, illustration, poetry