Taping my brush to a pole I wrote on the canvas.
‘Opening Up the Conversation’ (detail) June 2014 mixed media on canvas 56″ x 77″
Taping my brush to a pole I wrote on the canvas.
‘Opening Up the Conversation’ (detail) June 2014 mixed media on canvas 56″ x 77″
Carla – may I ask, what was behind the idea of distancing yourself from the creation of the work?
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Hi Hariod
Yes, I’m doing this on purpose right now. I want to grow, not keep painting in the same way I have in the past. By painting with a long stick or my unaccustomed hand (my left hand) I don’t have my normal control, so new shapes and lines appear on the canvas. These images create new problems for me to solve. The challenge for me is to answer the questions that are presented to me by distancing myself from my work – try something different and not be afraid to make mistakes. Thanks for the question. It was good for me to answer your question.
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Many thanks for your response Carla; I appreciate knowing what lay behind the process.
Many years ago, a friend and I would play a little game with charcoal and paper. We’d take a theme, then each would have just 5 seconds to draw lines based on that theme – with their eyes closed. Then the other would do the same, having not viewed whatever lines had been drawn. This proceeds as a back and forth process for say, 3 or 4 minutes. The results were almost always intriguing and highly unusual; most of all though, they were quite revealing of unconscious processes that occur as we distanced ourselves from any contrived result.
With gratitude and respect, Hariod.
P.S. Forgive me if this is similar to some silly trick that student artists might use in college or whatever – I am not an artist, and have no training as such.
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One exercise is drawing with your unaccustomed hand while following the contour of a face. What happens is exactly that . The hand you always draw with draws what it has been trained to do. When you draw with the other hand, the drawing may look strange but the result is a drawing that looks more like the subject you are drawing. This may be like free writing for writers.(I’ not sure this makes sense, but I’ll give it a try)
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That’s very interesting, and quite extraordinary too – thank you for the insight Carla.
I am interested in how the creative process can slip the bonds of conditioning. I’ve talked to many musicians about this, and so often they speak of the burden of musical knowledge being a block to true creativity.
As you may well know, the musician Brain Eno developed his ‘oblique strategies’ as a means of unblocking the flow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies
Many thanks Carla; I truly appreciate your time. Hariod.
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Interesting and thought provoking!
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Hi Dick
Hariod got me thinking too!
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Beautiful work! Brava! N.
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Thank you nancy . this one is big – about seven feet 🙂
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I’d love to be able to see exactly how you did it!!! Intriguing and the outcome is beautiful! 🙂 Happy Monday, my dear Carla! 🙂
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It was fun.very freeing. try it 🙂
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I love it – there’s something very be-bop about the tension between the drawn elements, the gestural marks and the text. Beautiful.
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Well you got me listening to Charlie Parker ! I looked up be-bop 🙂 Interesting you say that – all line. Next week it’s shapes .
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Beautiful, Carla.
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Really, really like this Carla – to me it feels like part of a larger painting..the two styles almost shouldn’t fit, but they absolutely do, works beautifully!
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Ha ha you are right it is a detail from a seven foot painting. As a digital piece it seems to work here. I’m having fun thinking in two different directions. A digital presentation can work one way and a straight painting another way. The big painting is not ready for its coming out party 🙂 One thing it’s hard for me to get the right colors translated to my blog. Its nice to talk with you. Your comments are helpful and encouraging. Thank you.
Carla
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Right something musical about it, what is triple 5 ?
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I inherited an old black telephone when I moved into my studio. 555 is the pre-fix of telephone numbers in all the past American movies. There is no more significance to 555. There is variation of lines there and some nice space happening. I’ll have to leave it at that. My musical sense is not the greatest. Thanks for the talk. Carla
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