I had an idea yesterday, started working on it today. Curious to see how the idea will change as I get it down on paper. It's a meandering process of expanding the idea and then editing for clarity and focus. And making it look 'right' to me. Every day I get a new little idea to try.
I'm working on being mindful of the amount of clinging I do to making the image 'perfect' which for me sometimes translates to tight and crowded. Like if I just make enough marks tiny enough and am obsessive enough about their perfection, I will end up with an interesting image. Sometimes this works.
But sometimes it stifles the energy in an image and creates a needlessly complex space.
I've also been thinking about what types of art I want around me in my own home. This is a different angle than I usually consider when I'm making images. I'm usually considering just what my imagination offers in the moment, not necessarily the end result in a space. It was so frowned upon to make 'decorative' fine art in school that I hesitate to even broach the subject, but I think that's an element of the work that should be considered. I want to make images that work for people in their daily environment, bringing some inspiration, mystery, and beauty to the daily grind.
I was thinking about what types of images I want around me in and here's a list of those qualities for me at the moment
Open
Mysterious
Relaxing
Spacious
Positive
Transformational
Colorful
Big
I think that I may try to gently guide my new work in this direction. However, if there's one thing I know about myself, I tend to say one thing about what I intend to do at the start of a project, and then I'll make something else entirely. I'm not sure if this is a flaw or a strength.
There's something that happens when I'm making an image: the problem solving and thinking takes place while I'm making marks. I get consciously focused on each mark, but there's some other unconscious force guiding the image making as a whole. It suggests the ideas, and I put them on paper and then we go back and forth until it feels done.
The less I'm thinking the better, I guess. The more lost I get in the making of each part of the image, the more it will succeed as a whole.
I can't separate the process of figuring out what the image will contain, and actually making the parts. The two processes are completely entangled.
