I've been folding lots of paper into books for the upcoming RiTUAL Reading Room show. I've been pulling out found papers and papers I've saved. This will keep me open to possibities. I'm looking through drawers in my studio and pulling out sheets.
I have many ritials and I can make the actual act of making the books a ritual. Excited to investigate and think about by rituals. By thinking about my acts everyday and the act of making working I discover more of my personal rituals.
All the panels have been gessoed for the second time. Now they will sit and dry thouroughly so I can sand them the next time I'm in the studio. Then I'll wipe them down and mount the watercolor paper. Meanwhile some folding. And I'll be framing a couple of those small drawings on the wall for a small works show.
Time for some fine sandpaper a chamois.
Then the gesoo, then the sandpaper, and a brush. Dust away.
Then the gel, squeegee.
Paper and brayer.
Weights and wait.
I've gotten serious about doing folding for RiTUAL. Reading Room. Last week and this week I'm folding several sheets and will begin drawing and marking them this week.
I'm also making some work on unfolded sheets which I will fold after the drawing is made.
The revealing of what the marks will do when they are reassembled as a folded book intrigues me.
Many missives in this little red Fabriano Sketchbook. Each drawing in this body of work is made with a fixed width fountain pen. Each drawing has a conversation with the drawing before and the drawing after.
The lack of opacity of the Fabriano sheet allows a reader to experience the show through drawing on the verso and the full drawing on the recto. This creates a rhythm and a linear experience a story line as one pages through.
There is no meaning to the marks until the reader views the drawings in context. The experience create a narrative of imagination.
I'm working with smaller drawings now. It's all in response to the heat and how much energy it takes to make big drawings. I love small drawings and right now I am making drawings that can be paired or shown in multiples.
This is the start of a larger series of drawings made on 7 x7 inch paper. They follow the rules of the measuremnt series; dipping a pen and drawing a single stroke one after another until the ink is gone and repaeating this until it fills a defined field. The drawing reveals a rhythm and the marks measure the distance and mass one dip of a pen can make.
Back in the studio in August and it's already been very productive. My last visit I completed another drawing in a new series.
These drawings consist of three repetitive marks drawn in columns. I'm learning about how the columns react based on speed, ink, and drawing impelments. This drawing was made using prefilled drawing pens. They create a consistant line and tone. I love the different experience from close and distant views. Still, they don't run out of ink for many. many marks. This is not consistant with my need to use measuring as a key element in making my recent work.
A good hot cuppa Joe and off to the studio today. Time to make some drawings on new Fabriano paper I'm gonna pick up as soon as the art supply opens.
Finding a rhythm, 1, 2, 3.
After filling some pages with lines moving in various directions I defined a zone in which to draw a series of short lines. Each grouping of three is stacked on another three. These marks create an undulating column.
I began drawing a series of these columns and investigated the resulting lines. This image is one small test drawing. Using different drawing tools changes the appearance of the three line groups and ultimately the motion of the columns. I'm currently making a series of drawings based on these marks.
The difficulty is in motivation. How to get started drawing when I was stuck? This almost never happens. Yesterday I was able to get started in the studio again. I had an art play date. Artgal Amy Ralston brought some supplies over and the two of us just experimented. Every once in a while we would chat, stop for a cup of coffee, or show eachother what we had made so far. I took to filling this page with lines — feeling the movement, playing with gaps and patterns. I was able to get something going.
It takes not being too serious and eliminating the expectations of outcome.
