in art these things

oil pastels, colored pencils, and acrylic paint in moleskin journal

last week i started working in a new moleskin sketchbook. i was anxious to start working in a journal again... i wanted something that i could put muslin pieces in, or doodle in, or draw... something easy and portable. no, i still haven't finished the last homemade journal i made, but i couldn't bring myself to cover any more pages in it. i can't cover up a whole journal's worth of st. armand paper with gel medium and muslin. just can't do it... and as much as i love Barely There Books, i like working on individual pieces of muslin more.


the muslin face on the left is glued to the backside of the page above... i may cut rectangles out of most of the pages in this moleskin, but that i can do!



watercolors, oil pastels, , colored pencils, and acrylic paint on muslin

caran d'ache crayons, colored pencils, gesso, sharpie poster paint markers

I have managed to open some windows onto this world. How I have managed it is difficult to explain. It certainly wasn't by force, not by selection, not by intelligence, not even exactly by intuition, but almost by a kind of sleep walking. The work of an artist is very difficult, precisely because it cannot be done by force, with diligence, or with intelligence. I mean, you can do everything else in life using strength and application and intellect, but in art these things produce absolutely no result.

Friedensreich Hundertwasser

i've been reading my new hundertwasser book and am smitten with the man and his art... and i'm reading carl jung's memories, dreams, reflections... and the outsider art sourcebook. it's like having a bunch of kindred spirits move into your home. it's exciting...

some observations from the 'outsider art sourcebook':

a. most of the people started doing art after they retired or an event forced them to stop working at their 'regular' job.

b. most of the artists are reclusive, even anti-social.

c. they all create vast, HUGE quantities of work. they're obsessed with creating.

watercolors, oil pastels, colored pencils, china marker, and acylic paint on muslin

i'm playing on another piece of 8" x 10" muslin... i sprayed it with fixative today so i can start another layer without messing up the watercolors...




in case it's helpful i thought i'd pass on a little of what i've learned about using blending stumps on oil pastels and colored pencils... because the muslin is so 'toothy' i have to use them, otherwise my fingers would be worn out. it seems good to keep two stumps for black - a smaller one for around eyes, noses, etc., and a bigger one for general, big smudging. i keep the others clean by rubbing them on muslin - that way i can use a stump over and over on any color... the muslin cleans them right up. i also put a piece of muslin over the stump to wipe off oil pastels if i don't like what i've got going. the muslin is coarse enough to take the surface back down to where you can start adding color again.


and i took a pic of three of my favorite colors of oil pastels - golden brown by portfolio/smith binney - great for skin when used with white; bordeaux by sennelier - a saturated, delicious color that puts zing into everything instantly; and white, any brand - for skin.


finally, from the lovely karin...


for the lovely karin...

. . .

Notice sur la Compagnie de l'Art Brut

~ Messers. Andre Breton, Jean Dubuffet, Jean Paulhan, Charles Ratton, Henri-Pierre Roche, and Michel Tapie (1949)


We are looking for works of art such as paintings, drawings, statues and statuettes, objects of all kinds that owe nothing (or as little as possible) to the imitation of works of art on display in museums, exhibitions, and galleries. On the contrary, they should draw upon the basic human experience and the most spontaneous personal invention.... Works of this kind interest us even if they are crude and clumsily executed. We do not set great store by manual dexterity; most of the time it is used to imitate works created by others and disguises the creator instead of expressing himself through it... We seek works in which the faculties of invention and creation that we believe to exist in every human being (at least at times) are manifested in a very immediate manner without masks and without constraints.

from, Outsider Art Sourcebook, Raw Vision Magazine


XO