Now and again I make a page on a black background - which allows you to do all kinds of different things. I even look at journals with black pages occasionally, but have concluded I don't want to work that way all the time!
I'd put a coat of gesso over a page which didn't seem to be going anywhere, so I figured I'd just black it out! At the stage below you can just see some of the old page showing through.
The Posca paint pens I like so much are wonderfully opaque, so you can get a good strong white against a dark background. And yes I have been looking at Aboriginal art again - I can see the influence very strongly here. Those perfect red circles aren't paint, I punched them out of a lovely thick red envelope which had contained a greetings card!
I'd been at an art class the day before, and during the afternoon something had happened to make me appreciate more than ever just how much of someone you meet casually might be hidden. In this case it was something a person was scared to show other people, and a confidence I felt honoured by. I was still thinking about this when I got home, so inevitably it found a way into my journal. Hence the "look beyond" - which is as much a message to myself as anyone else.
At this point I used a different black paint on the main area because the original wasn't a flat enough colour. It was also a later time of day so as you can see the whites have photographed very differently.
Reflecting on how much we don't see, hear or perhaps understand, led to the words here - I suppose I was reminding myself to expect to be surprised, to choose to look at something or someone with new eyes, or listen to what is NOT said .....
And unusually for me I was quite happy to leave empty open areas and not fill them with dots and doodles. I'm also moving towards using less collage and other people's images, preferring to create my own. It is a journey, and I'm astonished now when I look back at journal no.1 just how very far I've come in my travels to this, the 13th.
2 comments:
It was wonderful to see your process! I love that you are evolving and are using your own abilities instead of relying on other people's stuff. It makes one's work more unique and personal. I really can appreciate your quote as well! Thanks for sharing!
What a thoughtful message, and one I really appreciate for the work that I do ... I was glad to read that those circles were cut out because I was feeling very inadequate as I admired the perfection of your solid colouring! The white patterns on black are very striking ...
Post a Comment