Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Pagescape VII Playing













PageScape VII Playing
8.25x5" Prisma Colour pencils on hardcover novel

Themes and messages in art are always a controversial subject among artists. The artists who paint what appeals to them often have their work labelled as ‘just pretty paintings.’ The artists whose main work is fraught with poetry and meaning often just want to paint a pretty picture, and not have to explain it. Meaning can be painted into a picture, or an originally simple painting can take on great significance later. The actual methodology happens somewhere in between. An artist should (probably, some of the time…but I confess I usually don’t) have something in mind when beginning a work, but it’s a good idea to leave room for change, random ideas and visionary moments that may plop down in the middle of the canvas unexpectedly. As much as we like to feel we are controlling things, inspiration is a pretty wild ride. Good pictures can be ruined. Bad pictures can become masterpieces.

My own method involves playfulness. ‘Let me not take myself too seriously,’ I admonish the air, as I reach into the coloured pencils and grab three colours at random. Hmmm. Not my usual colours, that’s for sure. But wait! I’m drawing in a recycled hardcover novel with black primed pages. Definitely nothing serious going on here. I make some shapes and colour them.

Smile.

Pagescapes

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Pagescape VI Reflecting













PageScape VI Reflecting
8.25x5" Prisma Colour pencils on hardcover novel

It was another hot day, though there was a breeze rustling the leaves and stirring up patterns in the lake. Deb and I sat in the screen house, sketching and talking about the ever-shifting shapes of our lives. Every day, something changes, and our perception changes. And some days, our understanding of things completely starts over.

The lake so familiar to us changes constantly, subtly, reflecting the myriad transformations around it, sky and forest and little people living on its shore. Light flashes off the water. For a moment, we are not sure what we see.

Pagescapes

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Pagescape V Connecting













PageScape V Connecting
8.25x5" Prisma Colour pencils on hardcover novel

While my friend and collaborator desean was visiting, we had many discussions about our work processes, and especially how we work together. As soon as one of us mentions an idea, the other makes a connection, and from there we branch off in many directions, embellishing and refining, frequently returning to the original concept. Sometimes we begin with words, other times with images, weaving the two together into ideas for artwork series and books. Even when we are not collaborating, we often find ourselves making connections between our individual works. It is a meeting of minds, an artistic synthesis.

Pagescapes

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

PageScape IV Discerning













PageScape IV Discerning
8.25x5" Prisma Colour pencils on hardcover novel

Another morning of sketching with Deb. We discussed the idea of discernment, really looking and focusing, as a path to discovery. Painting and writing help to crystallize ideas, giving form to what we can only sense.

All is hidden for us to find. And each discovery leads us, if we are discerning, to another.

Friday, May 8, 2009

PageScape III Crossings













PageScape III Crossings
8.25x5" Prisma Colour pencils on hardcover novel

The ice began melting in the lake today, as the sun warmed the countryside. Deb and I sat out on the deck with our coloured pencils and books, talking and sketching. A breeze moved the trees gently, and stirred the patterns in the ice. Our conversation drifted, ideas crossing and shifting.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

PageScape II Unexpected













PageScape II Unexpected
8.25x5" Prisma Colour pencils on hardcover novel

I began painting on old books and manuals as a way to move my smaller works, sketches and paintings, away from standard formats, and contain them in a 'package'. Of course a book is a package that can contain many things, all presented in order, and portable. You might think a nice new blank sketchbook would do the job nicely, and more reasonable artists have been quite satisfied with just that. But as I paint and draw over the printed pages, words and images stand out, then vanish under layers of paint and pencils. Sometimes the words are reused, as the book pages are recycled, turned into something else. The drawings are small, spontaneous, and do not have the burden of being studio pieces or series work, nor are they numbered in my catalogue. They are just pages. That is the pleasure of making them.

And that is why unforeseen things happen. Unexpected forms appear.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

PageScape I Escape













PageScape I Escape
8.25x5" Prisma Colour pencils on hardcover novel

The wind blows, and everything changes. I can hear the birds, but their shapes merge with the shifting landscape. Even the trees are trying to be something else. It makes me feel restless, exhilarated. I escape into a little drawing, that belongs only to this moment. No rules, no plan...