Symphony ......

Starting out on a new series with a mixture of paint and collage, I set some parameters for the series in terms of size, colour palette and mix of substrates etc.

And yet it felt a bit overwhelming with all I had learned in the change to working with paint and collage and the many ways of putting it all together!

While I was contemplating getting started and perhaps procrastinating a little bit! …… Daniel Pink’s book , ‘A Whole New Mind’ crossed my path. This is not a new book, it was published in 2008. It’s main premise is that the future belongs to right brain thinkers and outlines 6 fundamental elements that will be essential to professional success and personal fulfilment.

What was most interesting to me was the concept of ‘symphony’ . It is the idea of seeing the connections between diverse and seemingly separate elements and putting them together to create something new by working across boundaries, by inventing new combinations or by understanding one thing in terms of something else ie using metaphor. In other words the work of the artist!

Daniel Pink has lots of suggestions for developing this skill of symphony, for example:-

- listen to the great symphonies,

- follow the links ie “choose a topic you find interesting and type it into a search engine and follow one of the links. From this initial site select one of its links and venture on’

- keep a metaphor log writing down compelling and surprising metaphors you encounter.

He also suggested creating an inspiration or mood board “each time you see something that you find compelling - a photo, a piece of fabric, the page of a magazine - tack it to the board. Before long you will start to see connections between images that will enliven and expand your work”

So the mood board became a key resource and starting place for the new series and as it continues to develop and change so does the artwork!

Here is how the series is looking so far …

I am looking forward to seeing how it continues to develop and will definitely be building ‘symphony’ practice and mood/inspiration boards into my ongoing practice and art process.

Thanks for reading …. I appreciate your time and interest. CC

A Journey into Black and White

In Art2Life’s .Creative Visionary Program (CVP) the No 1 focus is on value and design, beginning with working in black and white …..

• to experience the true power of value;

• to explore the ‘Loud Conversation’ - areas of greatest value contrast;

The process starts with a play session ….. and I chose to work on three panels.

Black and white acrylic paint, a stencil, a leaf and an instruction to play.

Starting with white panels and no plans …. a landscape feel is starting to emerge.

Second pass. Added a black panel to the mix to see what difference it would make.

We are learning to ask … where is the loud conversation (areas of high contrast) and where does your eye travel? Are there barriers or a bullseye that limits movement? Are there differences/similarities that could be adjusted to improve the design?

The dark values in these panels seem to be mostly around the edges leading towards corridors?

The black panel was definitely more of a challenge to start with.

Third pass. Trying to address design issues and focus on differences.

Plenty of room to improve value and design …. especially with the benefit of a bit of distance (time and space)!

I will come back to these at a later date ….

Have enjoyed working in black and white …. maybe the beginnings of a new series?

Thank you for reading … I appreciate your time and interest ….CC

New Adventure!

After all the uncertainty and constraints of the last year or so with COVID, I’ve been looking for something that will ‘light me up’ and give me a new burst of energy!

Late last year I started to explore the world of collage and mixed media, not unrelated to the fused applique techniques of textile art. I moved from using just textiles to working with paint, paper and fabric. Here are a few of my explorations ….

What I’ve discovered is that there is a world of possibilities when paint is added to the mix and much for me to learn and explore!

So I’ve signed up for the Art2Life CVP 2021 course - 12 weeks of exploring the possibilities of acrylic paint and more!

I’m not sure where it will take me and where textiles will fit but I’m excited and looking forward to the journey.

The first couple of weeks have been focussed on what inspires us, what we want our art to be and the Art2Life process. Now we are about to get into the painting! Such fun!

Thank you for reading and taking an interest in my art. I’ll be back soon with and update on my progress!

CC