Each of today's art samples -- because of the way each has turned out -- brings freshly to my mind the original inspiration for my two newly released masks: Rex Ray's artwork.
One thing that's quoted to him is a statement that he'd learned to avoid working from his own previously planned designs. He said that this approach made him feel as if he were "following directions." And that this drained him of creative energy.
Until I opened my second book compilation of his artworks, I had never encountered another artist who stated this so plainly. Some talk around it, saying that they work intuitively -- and I've said this myself.
But did anyone ever say why the intuitive approach worked for him or her? If so, I managed to miss that.
Those of us who work intuitively do so because we have watched our own artwork go stale and flat if we follow the advice of artists who recommend starting with a plan; to sketch it out, laying in values, etc., and keeping notebooks for this very purpose.
Those who approach art-making that way do so because it works for them. And that's wonderful, since each of us is an individual, and this world would be boring if it were otherwise.
For me, however, the only way to start is to jump right in. Does this make "more work" for me? Maybe -- still, who cares? Thank God, I don't have to punch a timeclock.
Having had my say on this, I open today's post with a different kind of experiment; I used my new 6" x 6" mask Champagne s960 with blue acrylic paint to print on an old paper from my vast paper collection.
The original background had been a Photoshop-altered image based partially on an abstract glimpsed years ago.
To my eye, this marriage of two images works well. Tipping the mask at an angle made the experiment come out just the way I'd wanted.
The mask Champagne s960 -- still used at an angled slant -- enlivened a piece of black paper that previously had been smeared randomly with metallic acrylic paints of green and blue....
After that second experiment, I decided to keep tilting my new mask Champagne s960 -- since it strikes me that this slant infuses the overall finished look with more drama than it would have otherwise--
Above: Opaque white heavy body acrylic paint makes this print stand out from its background of dark values and assorted colors.
Below: The same holds true for this piece; its background is a sheet of paper that I'd used for brushing leftover paint off my brush.
Below: Still using a thick layer of heavy body white opaque paint, I created this art sample by covering the whole page -- not just the square area covered by the mask. So the resulting image visually stands out, despite the paper's original mingled colors being medium or low in value.
As I continued working in this vein, I made a print that didn't satisfy me in its original state, so I used Photoshop to alter its colors --
The print above started with a pre-printed background paper that contained lines; I chose that paper because I felt those original lines would go well with the lines made by 6" x 6" mask Champagne s960 despite being destined to become dimly visible, after coverage with acrylic paints.
In the art sample's upper right, I've added a pinch of variety by using a "mini-Fantasia" mask that comes with my 9" x 12" ATC Mixup Swatton #1 L768. This Artist Trading Card-sized design is a miniature version of my 9" x 12" mask Fantasia L450.
Today's last art sample, below, has no tilting!
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