Summer Abstraction

My summer art goal is to explore and experiment with mixed media, using watercolor, fabric, and items from nature (sticks, leaves, shells...) to create abstract pieces on the theme: Good Fortune for Nature.

 

Agenda:

1. Read the Creativity Book

2. Abstraction plan

3. Do the smallest thing

1. Read the Creativity Book:

A few years ago I started but didn't finish this book by Eric Maisel (one of my favorite writers). The subtitle is "A Year's Worth of Inspiration and Guidance." Who doesn't want that? 

I'm on to Week 15: Abstract Everything. 

"Abstraction is itself an abstract word and has no single meaning. Sometimes it means 'a process by which we get at the essence of things'. ... Abstraction is also the process by which we represent things." 

Maisel says that in the process of abstracting you learn what all similar things have in common - the essential shape and color of flowers, for example - and also learn something about how we communicate about flowers. We can use what we learn to make our artwork "leaner and more elemental ... An everyday creative person trains herself to fathom the power and meaning of abstraction."

2. Abstraction plan:

Maisel suggested that I look at Piet Mondrians's process of abstraction, so I did: He did one tree I quite liked, first with charcoal, and then simplified down to lines and patches of color.

Dr. Stephanie Chadwick says,"Mondrian believed his abstraction could serve as a universal pictorial language representing the dynamic, evolutionary forces that govern nature and human experience. In fact, he believed that abstraction provides a truer picture of reality than illusionistic depictions of objects in the visible world."

So, my plan this summer is to 

1. Think of a subject in nature such as bees, and begin to visualize the essence of bees.
2. Draw first in reality, then draw in abstract.
3. Create a painting with watercolor and ink.
4. Then add fortunes, bits of paper and fabric, and objects from nature (leaves, shells, sticks...) 

3. Do the smallest thing:

Last week I set an intention to work with attention and tenacity on many creative projects and to finish things I start. 

Doing the smallest thing helped me to have a successful week; I finished a helmet project, worked on my butterfly mural, and made handprints with my grandsons. This week I did it again - I made a list of small things I need to do for my current projects, printed it, and assigned one or two per day.

Some of my small tasks:

• Add color to Godzilla helmet.
• Visualize the essence of light.
• Paint underpainting for The Light collage.
• Draw with paint pens with grandsons.
• Set parameters for summer "Voice of Nature" paintings
• Collect fortunes, images and papers for The Light.
• Plan words and image for Native Plants sign.
• Find a board, sand, and prime.