I have been aiming to do some quick drawings, mostly everyday, to invite in new ideas. The reason that I do these quickly is because I can be an over thinker and when I bring that headspace to my art, things tend to come to a halt and freeze up. I also like “idea surprises” that can surface as I spontaneously trust and create. These are things that the over thinker never would have dreamed and can appear through this process.
Spontaneous drawing with more than a pencil
As an artist who loves to create with all kinds of materials, you will notice that my idea of drawing is quite different than the usual pencil on paper. I am not necessarily observing something and drawing it, though that could be part of the process here. I learned it first from art teacher, Gernot Dick, when I was in Atlin, BC at Atlin Centre for the Arts.
Select your ingredients
I begin by selecting about 5 or so ingredients. These days, encaustic paint is usually a part of it. With this material I can use the clear medium like a glue to attach collage elements and the paint to make marks of different colours. I could consider limiting it to just a few colours but in this series I have been using a rainbow selection.
The ingredients for this series I have include:
pages from an old dictionary
gold leaf
encaustic paint
pencil – 2 sizes
good quality drawing paper or 90-140 lb arches cut to about 11″X15″ but like everything else, size is optional
Dictionary pages are cut and collaged with clear encaustic medium, pencils for gestural lines, encaustic paint and gold leaf that is laid onto the wax and fused.
Wait for the glimmer
I start by waiting for the first image to appear in my mind’s eye. For me, it is like a glimmer. I see a colour and I see a sense of the shape or brushstroke and before it goes away or I get critical about it, I start. Then, usually another colour is suggested and I continue in this way until perhaps it is time to collage in some paper or put some pencil marks in a certain area.
A Took Kit of Expression
My mark making methods have evolved over time. This approach builds a tool kit of expression that once it is discovered you carry it with you and enjoy the feel of its expression when the idea to use it comes up.
Have a Conversation
This process is like a conversation. Ideas continue to surface as I am drawing and then all is quiet and the drawing is done. Things get difficult when I decide to make them difficult. When I trust my intuitive instincts and simply create from this internal conversation all keeps flowing to the end.
I leave the assessment and the investigation into any sort of message or meaning for later. Titles are a fun way to invite the viewer into the piece and explore the meaning for themselves. I called the drawing above Energy Soup because it reminds me of a fiery vessel to use to spark your internal energy. Sometimes words emerge as I am drawing and I might write them down inside the image. Then it can become a poem drawing….And we can talk about that another time!
