Ynotartblog's Blog

Still remaining inspired by a Greek sculpture of a woman walking, I find myself less attached to clarifying this pursuit using cut-out paper. But, not wholly abandoning cut-outs.

On the work painted directly on board or paper, I enjoy seeing how the colors interact when so closely aligned. When I paint using tape on board, the resolute edges of the color fields create distinct pushes and pulls as the eye follows the demands of each color.

Painting edges on paper without the use of tape creates an interesting intermingling of colors. More movement is created at the edges painted by hand – a shimmer appears causing the color to levitate.

I like the sleekness and sharpness of an edge created with the help of tape. I like the visual excitement of intermingling colors created by the imprecision of hand-painted edges. And I like cut-outs.

What am I trying to express about the sculpture that is eluding me? I need to clarify my interest. What is capturing my attention so consistently? How can I communicate that feeling? that concept?

One day I got it. After looking at work by Bridget Riley and assessing my interest as being in favor of hand drawn edges, I understood that I needed a feeling of continuous movement and not the repeating pattern of shapes that have a stop-motion effect. The woman in the sculpture is captured in a moment in past time as she walks forward. It is not the line of her body as she moves that interests me. The movement from a moment that was present, through the past, to now – movement in space and time – that is what I find fascinating! Bridget Riley’s paintings helped me form that understanding and find the way to express it. The answer, for the moment, is adding curved and interweaving lines. Here’s the beginning of an acrylic draft on newsprint (How I love the mix of acrylic paint and newsprint texture!)

The last several months have all been about veering slowly, steadily, and quietly into unknown visual territory. I love this state of being an explorer and open to discovery!

This morning I read this quote on dailyword.com:

Confidence, like art, never comes from having all the answers; it comes from being open to all the questions. Earl Gray Stevens (E-40)

What question will present itself next? There’s the fun!