P is for Playing with Possibilities

A student mentioned that she had learned about an artist, Gabriele Munter, at school. I was unfamiliar with the artist, so I looked her up - (what would I do without the internet.) She paints florals, faces and landscapes with lots of color, flat plane and an abstract feel. I describe my own work in the same way. I especially liked her florals because mine are so similar in style and feel.

So, I decided to try to copy one of her paintings, but instead of paint, I used Caran D'ache on watercolor paper. I liked the arrangement of her flowers, but I changed up the leaves.

I had a few thoughts in mind for this drawing - one - this would be a great way to introduce some color blending techniques to my students. The flowers are colored in different ways - some are rings that are blended, others layers of color that are also blended to create both new colors and some pattern .

Also, I have been playing with wetting my Caran D'ache drawings and creating "prints" on rice paper - this as an idea for fabric design to use in my Art of Fashion class.

I played all day - ending up with a delecate rice paper print, a full scale painting, digital prints with different color backgrounds, and a really satisfied feeling. I had fun, and I have enough ideas stored up for my entire week of teaching.

P is for Process, (I really mean Play)

Word/drawing again. Same process which is mostly like playing around.

I draw words around a letter, paying attention to the shapes of the letters. There is plenty for me to say about the letter P - starting with my name. This time I kept the image small and simpler so I did not need to crop it, in fact focused more than before on composition.

Once in Photoshop I continued as I have this week, placing colors on layers and within spaces. When I add color, whether with ink or crayon or Photoshop I ignore the words and only attend to the shapes I see, applying color to create the picture I see on the page.

I wanted this piece to be filled with light and tried to keep larger blocks of color and fewer lines to keep it simple. I think this piece is joyful.

Every time I repeat this process, I find something new.