Tuesday, June 1, 2010

certain extraordinary

inktense pencils, acrylic paint, colored pencils on muslin

last week was a time of inner change... not change felt or realized so much on the surface, but deep within. i tried working on a light background but couldn't get anywhere. so i started slathering on black, greys and browns...

inktense pencils, acrylic paint, oil pastels, colored pencils on muslin

i wanted to take my new inktense pencils out for a test drive - see what i could learn about them. i feel like i've only scratched the surface, but i really like what i've seen so far. what i've been doing is drawing the figure/face in with them; getting that wet and using them until i want to move on, adding colored pencils or oil pastels. they can add some punch to the more subtle watercolor effects of the inktense pencils.


my favorite colors so far (i left out tan, which is similar to amber) -- sepia ink, oak (brownish green), red oxide, paynes grey, amber, and mustard. mustard!!

colored pencils, oil pastels, acrylic paint on muslin

i did this face before the pieces with the dark background - it wasn't satisfying, something had to change...

inktense pencils, acrylic paint, oil pastels, colored pencils on muslin

so all of these are in regina (for new readers, regina is the muslin journal i'm working in now) - she's 5" x 7", and i turned her sideways to do the top two pieces. here i'm back to working on a single page again...

inktense pencils, acrylic paint, oil pastels, colored pencils on muslin

this is the last page that i've done in regina - it looks like i'm coming back to light backgrounds...

colored pencil, pigma micron pen in moleskine sketchbook

and in my pocket moleskine, some 'zen doodling' inspired by janine. the ink doodling on the left page was done with my right (dominant) hand. the right page was done with my left hand. my first thought when i was done with them, was "wow, this is why i draw with my left hand." to me the energy (and look) of the two 'doodlings' is completely different.




sticks! i haven't forgotten about them! way back in february i drew the 'face stick', or what i later called 'the mother stick', which got me thinking about having an installation (ha!) of sticks that i've drawn on. a grove of sticks, you might say. well, i started to do that but quickly realized that it would involve digging fairly deep holes, and i am not a hole digger! i'm a putter-of-stuff-around, not a digger-of-holes. then this weekend i saw a stick sculpture made by a neighbor, and viola! i knew what the solution to my stick installation dilemma was!

most of these sticks don't have any drawing on them, but they can be taken out and drawn on. my dh and i had collected this stash of 'drawable' sticks... since this 'sculpture' i've started two more - they're addictive!


the 'mother stick' does not live here, but near ashland, oregon with two beautiful guardians...


we've had a wee little bit of sunshine and i've been out in it... if you click on the tree you'll see some rusty MJB coffee can art... the bottom of the can was barely hanging on, ripe for drawing...


this is how far our trees have leafed out. it's not easy to believe that the summer solstice is a few weeks away...






oh my...

* * *

"This much is sure, a picture interests me to the degree I succeed in kindling in it a kind of flame -- the flame of life, of presence, or existence, or reality, depending on what we take these words to mean. To be sure, it often happens with me that my picture lacks this quality... In any case, I go on working, I add and I take away, I change, I revise (notice that I work empirically, like a blind man, experimenting with every kind of means), until a certain extraordinary release occurs in the picture, and from then on it seems to me endowed with this very life - excuse me, reality. How can this be accounted for? I have no idea. I never know how I produced it, or how to repeat the same effect. It is a mysterious happening, and because of its very mysteriousness it drives me again and again to renew the experience each time I make a picture."

~ Jean Dubuffet


XO

19 comments:

  1. hey Lynne!!

    Great post as always!! Love the sticks.... they make me so happy!!
    So... i adore my Inktense pencils also. Let me know what you uncover with them. I use them in my watercolor journal. I love that when they're set they won't budge!!
    Btw... all your work is gorgeous!!

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  2. I love how when something isn't working for you, you simply try something else! So inspiring! you have some gorgeous wildflowers!

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  3. Thanks for your list of favorite Inktense--I think I would like that collection of colors too. It's so interesting to see the difference in your right/left hand doodles. Never thought of doodling with my non-dominant hand, but that intrigues me.

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  4. Thanks for the tour through your magnificent journal and through the great outdoors.

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  5. I love how your posts take me on a journey. I get lost looking, reading, imagining, totally captivated. :)

    Hugs

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  6. hello, dear, "putter of stuff around"... I am really enamored of your new dark background piece. love the contrast. the angels really pop and amorphous is wonderful. stick sculpture has me smiling and I am going to credit you with the new term, "zen doodling"
    thanks for such beauty and fun!!

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  7. Wonderful, wonderful! Love your zendoodles! LOVE Inktense color pencils, they are wonderful on fabric, on most surfaces! I am so happy that my doodle inspired your doodles!

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  8. I'm taken with your slathered grey piece Lynne. Great inktense colours.

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  9. heya manon, yeah, i love that when they're dry they're set, too. that was the main thing that prompted me to buy, uh, a bunch of them. ; )

    hi tammie, i thought about you when i was taking these flower pics! your photos are my photo ideal... : ) love to you...

    hey dan! thanks!

    hi robin, yeah, try the left hand for doodling... i think it's a superior doodling hand. ; )

    you're welcome, seth... thank *you*...

    ahhh, i'm smiling here, patti... the poplar leaves are a couple of inches long now - i go out, inhale, and think of you. : ) hugs back to ya ...

    seriously, cat, isn't it zen doodling? i mean it should be. ; ) yeah, i'm a putter around of stuff, ha! just ask my husband!

    hey janine... yep, you inspire me. : )

    thank you, robyn. i love working in these colors. the faces that come from them are different from faces on a light background, i think... xo

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  10. I enjoy reading about your process. I have followed your lead and been putting things around. Actually, I have done this for longer than I have been reading that you do this but I do it more now. My problem is the things I put around, for instance some little painted rocks, some sort of doll figures of sticks and scrim, even the stuffed animals my dog likes to carry along on walks and sometimes leaves behind, these things tend to disappear. I am the only human that walks in my forest so I guess the birds, raccoons and coyotes are taking these things. Rocky left his teddy bear in the woods along the path, just sitting there so cute I decided to leave it but the next day it was gone and I never found hide nor stuffing from it. My banners get washed out by the rain and are just hanging strips of cloth. Oh well. It is still fun to do. Thanks for the inspiration. Really, you do your drawings with your non dominant hand? I didn't know that.

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  11. I've been moving more toward the earthy colors, too.(Something to do with Uranus in Aries?)
    Mustard! It's SO very fashiony!
    Thanks, I've not had a Dubuffet hit in a while. -J

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  12. Hi Lynne
    Love that you're working more and more with the inktense pencils. I have yet to try them on fabric, but I may just go and do that now. I'm about to go
    and check out the tutorials on the muslin journals too.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Joanna

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  13. Lynne! it's nice to have met you...and to follow a fellow artist...

    i came by way of manon's blog..saw your feet and had to click on over!

    come by and visit me too!

    have a great and creative day!
    ciao bella
    creative carmelina

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  14. Beautiful,lovely and fantastic shots !Simply nice and Great !!Thanks for the virtual tour !!Unseen Rajasthan

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  15. Hello~ i am not a hole digger! How are you? Those delicate green virgin spring leaves are wonderful to see. And your stick sculpture, very nice lines! I like this idea.

    Amorphous is one of my favorite words... and the grey tones work, they are rich and deep.

    and last but not least, i love that quote so much. Its so nice to see Jean Dubuffet's name even!

    .
    blessings

    .

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  16. hi jan, yes, i know... lots of stuff disappears, and sometimes i do wonder what happens to it, what it's used for. sometimes i'm pretty sure i hear the Forest Beings say "just wait 'til she's outta here, we'll have this thing down in no time." : ) yeah, everything i draw (except that doodle) is with my left hand. i've been doing it since i started drawing a few years ago. i like the energy of it better than my right hand... thanks for your long and thoughtful comment. xo

    jayne, is aries in uranus earthy?! so it just moved out of pisces, right, which i guess would be more blue green/watery... you're welcome for the dubuffet. love this quote...

    hi joanna, i think i like the inktense pencils better on fabric than paper. the fabric can take more rubbing and messing with, which i think suits the inktense pencils well. thank you again for telling me about them. : )

    hi carmelina, thanks for stopping by - what a lovely place you have!

    thank you unseen rajasthan... and you're welcome. : )

    lol, m., yes it is nice to see even just his name... as for the stick sculptures, well, i've only just begun them. they can be added to forever, i think... xo exo

    thank you so much, mara!

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  17. I’m just discovering Inktense pencils, too. They are such fun to use and being permanent is a great feature. Some have said they aren’t lightfast—what do you think? The loose “Zen doodle” with your non-dominant hand is fascinating and very spiritual. You have a wonderful blog!

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