Painterly Studies!

I made so many of these little painterly studies yesterday. The method is very simple but effective. I painted on laminating sheets and then placed paper on top. I allied pressure to it and then ripped it off slowly. This is very similar to printing. I really like how I can create marks that I could not normally create with a brush or any other instrument. I act of transferring and pulling can only do this. It is evident that  I have paid a lot of attention to my mark making as of late. I am always searching for new ways to create unusual smears and smudges. What I find with these pieces is that at first I may hate them. However, when I look at them hours or days later I might love them. This has taught me not too throw studies away so easily. It was a terrible habit. It is far better to leave them for a few days to see if I have a change of heart or to see what I can salvage from the mess. I learned that I could hate 90% of a picture I make but if the 10% is brilliant or worthy of note then it deserves to survive.

I adore the manner in which the orange paint seems to vibrate against the bright pink background. It creates a great visual effect.  It is perhaps what Bridget Riley might create if she was more painterly and expressionistic. 

I feel this is my most successful one. I love how the use of paint is invigorated by using a plain, unfussy background. Simplicity is best. In fact, I read a great book this week that informed me that drawing is simply the act of simplifying. This is a statement that is so true and yet I have never discovered it for myself or had it revealed to me in all my years of sketching. Must not be paying enough attention to what I’m doing!

Some paint I used was made very liquid. This caused it to stain the paper instead of simply sit on top of it. When this is combined with opaque and dramatic strokes it can create a three-dimensional affect. It is also similar to the effect the bleach has.