Art Life Stories…3
Art Life Biz Journalling blog
Welcome to my Art Life Stories journalling blog. Every artist has a storyteller’s soul. I do love visual storytelling and all the playful connections along the way
This is where I acknowledge that for now, this is a bi-weekly post (every 2 weeks and I will see where it leads me. It will end up monthly but I’m playing and learning at the moment as I find my way through different ways to share this art life story
For now, the stories are flowing and I hope they make you smile and give you an incite into the learning process that is this art life story unfolding.
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Art Life Biz Questions?
Week 3 and 4of blogging about Art Life Biz next steps. A wabi-sabi discovery path is all about the process and finding joy along the way. Sharing stories of process and learning as a curiosity and connection to the things that light me up. A flower focus of course.
I arrived home in time to play with my colour pallet to develop the next step. This is where I need to play at this point in order to strengthen the image and create a united colour pallet. I have used 2 versions of each of the three primary colours to create the pallet for the flowers with the turquoise and orange/red mix. This base group will give me continuity and my sketchbook colour play is to get clear on the colour mixes I want and to explore the variety I can get as I add black and white – developing shades and tints playfully. I really do not like to draw boxes and do it formally. This playful flow is far more fun and it works.
Monday 11TH – Sunday 25th July
Art Life Stories
It has been a crazy couple of weeks filled with highs and lows and in-between art…
Dad is now a permanent resident in a nursing home which means he gets the care he needs. It is that knowing that the people you love are cared, for that makes life feel a little more balanced. Wednesday visit across to the other side of town as usual and then home to escape to Warrnambool for a few days aiming to return by Sunday.
A trip away means lots of nature inspiration, whale watching, and car art space. I create and play as we travel and we arrive at Logans Beach to see our first Southern Right Whale of the trip and then two more as the days unfold. Car art is a joyful space along the way. The sea has such a restorative process and staring out across the waves is pure meditation. From wattles to waterfalls, and walks around volcanic lakes and coastal tracks, it has been a wonderful trip. Unfortunately, we both came back with the flu.
Life happens and art fills the small corners between a restful few days. I continue my morning drawings and start to develop them into more finished journal pages. Every morning I do a drawing that starts with a left-handed scribble and becomes a figure of some sort. They are pure play and as I draw I write the intuitive words that flow through as poetic stories.
Intuitive Composition Wonderings
The other thing that has happened is I aim to finish a few pieces in my new ‘Soul Garden’ Series is a curiosity about the idea of intuitive composition. This me as a series of questions.
- What do I mean by composition?
- What does composition mean for an intuitive artist?
- When do I consider the composition within my process?
- What would composition mapping look like as an intuitive artist?
- What do other intuitive artists say about composition
So I went down another rabbit hole. I created an art piece and thought it was finished but realised I had lost color brightness and needed to keep dancing through the layers. I’m not sure where this will lead but the aim is always to learn and create stronger work that feels like me and adds a little light.
Art Beginnings
I knew that composition was often an overlay later in my process. As an intuitive artist, I didn’t want to start with a thumbnail sketch as seemed common practice in composition advice.
A quick overview of an intuitive composition process
This is not a linear process so a list of steps is fluid and open to guided intuition. I simply have learned to lean into what I love and do more of that. In my mind’s eye, I am aware of the overlay of the rule of thirds grid and the interacting points that attract the viewers attention
- I start with collage layers and words that create an inviting surface to play on.
- Then color flow as each step builds with an intuitive sense of balance within the image.
- finding forms in a cloud dreaming process that is led by the intention
- Then start to build details and add shapes as simple outlines or masses.
- this is where I would tend to overlay the composition map to lead the eye through the image – shifting and refining as I dance in and out of the image.
- Add and subtract details and contrast as I build variety, contrast, and form.
Throughout this process, I regularly shift from being within the painting to being the observer. Moving in and out is the refining and clarifying of an inner vision of the piece that is unfolding. It is not a set image when I begin so I cannot follow a set armature until it feels ready to form itself.
Soul Art Story Learning
I realised that I was still being impacted in some areas by my dyslexia which has a sense of wanting the black and white rules. I was visioning composition as a singular armature and my biggest learning was that it was about choosing the armature that fitted your evolving art story flow. Making moves to refine that flow and looking for other compositional structures that could support that flow of movement around the page.
A composition is 2 things really…It is the armature or underlying structure and it creates the sense of direction in the piece. To check the composition, I step out of the painting process and look as the viewer. How am I being led around this art story? One of the things that became really obvious was a need for more space and so the collage play made the works become bigger- from rectangles to squares as the layers of story grew.
I have taught art for 30 years and there is always more for me to learn as both artist and teacher. Intuitive art had freed my creative flow but the question was how do I improve what I am doing. Art is continual learning and diving deeper into my understanding of composition felt like the next step. It was also the path to completing this new small series of artworks.
These are the most current completions and they are evolving. Each one informs the next as I continue this dance through the layers. The little bird has become a repeated image as I choose to name the series ‘Heart Whispers’. Art creation is always heart for me and such a guided process. The little birds are a perfect image for the idea of listening to our inner guidance.
I decided space was required and the larger pieces became larger as the portrait pieces morphed into square formats. It really does feel like a desire for more light in the art. I am curious to see where this leads as art opens me to new possibilities.
Not complete as yet but loving the adventure. I hope you are finding joy in your own space to create.
Love and blessings,
Sharing story journals as a running weekly blog post.
