If you are what you eat
then playing with your food
is self-discovery

mmmmmmmm  summer simplicity..... high energy....slow release....and tastes like Aztec summer on your tongue... :)))

Wasa Multi-Grain Bread 
Avacado spread on like butter (insta-guac)
layered with mango chunks  (add fruit of your choice...try Prickly Pear.....omg!!!)
drizzled with the original Try Me Tiger Sauce (slather hot sauce of your choice!)

creative practice...

Dhamma (Pāli: धम्म) or Dharma (Sanskrit: धर्म) in Buddhism has two primary meanings:

• the teachings of the Buddha which lead to enlightenment ( The Universal law of nature )
• the constituent factors of the experienced world (The characteristic of elements)

Meditation on and practice of the first, expressed through moments of drawing and painting the second...only this...nothing special.

Essential Elements

Summer 2010 marks a period of transition and awakening.  In sifting through tai chi, chi energy, and the previous essential's post I have finally arrived at the core.  The foundation of my practice... the spiritual center that unlocks the many gates along the path to awakening to my true nature and creative practice.  Zen philosophy has always resonated with me, and I can remember spending many, many hours at the James Madison University library, as an undergraduate drawn over and over to the zen books, while studying psychology, art, and martial arts.  But the conceptual philosophies I came across in books never penetrated very far under the surface, and only tangentially resonated in the activities of my life, and certainly did not form the core practice of my search for a sustained creative practice.  The resonant search was always there, but never fully awakened and integrated.

I have recently arrived home.  It was always here...and its nothing special.  But it means everything.  It is the core of my creative practice and everything manifest will flow from it.   I was in the right direction when examining Tai Chi...but this only uncovered the true core essential element of breathing and flow, pointing to a spiritual core.  Examining Tai Chi, i found it to be another creative art manifesting a spiritual core.....which led me to the realization that what was missing was my mindful awareness of my spiritual core, which I have found , coming full circle,  through the gate of zen practice.  Not zen philosophy which is of little consequence, though instructive and necessary for learning.  But zen practice.  Experience and practice in Being and Seeing.  This is my gateway to the sustainable, meaningful creative practice.

My current spiritual community home is the Austin Zen Center.  Attending regular zazen sesshins, services, and participation events sharpens the single point of mindfulness and is the first spiritual community (other than a martial arts dojo, or my studio) that I have felt at home, at peace, and that I was fully alive and in the moment.

Since my last post I have also decided not to pursue the typical commercial or art community activities in the vain effort to "market" my practice.  Commercial or community art connections will form organically from my zen creative practice and from no other direction.  As such I respectfully bowed out of the Casa de Luz and Jones Center ArtHouse projects.... not that they would not have been meaningful community connections, but that they happened to coincide with a transitional period that required realignment of intention and purpose.  All that follows from this point forward will be a stream of mindful practice along my chosen path.  :)))

Creative space...

Maximizing creative energy within a grounded space is the intent of the studio area.  Over the past couple of painting sessions I've fallen in love with exploring the use of the palette tray as a microcosm of paint, color, and brush stroke alchemy.  Another area of exploration has been engaging the blank canvas and connecting with the ground support of the painting, the surface plane.  The freedom of trial and error produces dynamic moments of insight and progress, internalizing both what works and what doesn't with equal abandon.   The moment that the eye lingers, and the finger brushes the blank canvas a relationship begins...the moment that the paint loaded knife/brush touches the surface plane the dance flows...as you look/listen to the painting surface the dance becomes a dialogue...all the while, intent (creative dialog), breath, stroke, and paint trace the dynamic orbit of the Moment.

Working with a sponge, modeling paste and pigments (black, Bronze Yellow/Mars Yellow; Yellow Oxide) I explored moving into the surface and beyond the "blank" into interesting surface textures that set the background stage for exploring color and composition.  While doing this, a couple of discoveries come into focus.

I've always been deeply moved by a variety of music genres.  There are few things I like more than being part of a group appreciating a live music performance.  But in the studio, music is the vibrational lubricant for the painting process.  The rhythms, notes, melodies each infuse and inform the painting stroke as part of the flow of Chi in the space.  Like iTunes, I made the dangerous discovery of Amazon's mp3 Downloads and quickly downloaded two CD's (sans the CD and packaging) for instant studio flow.  Currently playing in the studio is Tommy Emmanuel ("Center Stage"), guitarist extraordinaire, and Organissimo ("This is the Place"), funky jazz with a Hammond organ in the mix.

Another discovery, in terms of creative momentum, is that the natural creative process is not a matter of working on a single piece to its completion but is a fluid movement among several image surfaces, including sketches and more finished pieces, each with its own immediate focus, stage of development, and need for rest (to allow paint to dry, to get a fresh eye, etc..).  This creative process facilitates working with ideas and experimentation on individual pieces as well as within a series of related work, which creates a cumulative process of discovery and production.  The creative internal dialogue moves and breathes from peace to piece.  Talk about results!  The creative practice went from being blocked to currently working on a 6" x 6" paper study and corresponding 6" x 6" x 1.75" cradled panel, a tryptich consisting of three 4" x 4" claybord panels, 2 individual pieces on 5" x 7" claybord panels, and an 8" x 8" panel.  Truly amazing....and the result of a natural, unhurried, dynamic pace that is guided by the pieces themselves, completely devoid of ego striving to complete any particular piece, and free of inhibiting thoughts and fears, concious or subconcious, that in the past have resulted in a corresponding diminishment of focus and follow-through (creative Chi).   In the Now, there is a fully relaxed trust in the process and gratitude for the opportunity!

Something in the Air...

Essential elements ... awareness | balance | air (breathing).

Participated in my first class at Casa De Luz Center for Integral Studies, in an Ip Sun (which translates to Moving Meditation in Korean) Tai Chi class with Master Vince Cobalis.  The center environment is a hidden treasure in Austin that fosters a relaxed contemplative air as you walk onto the grounds, that deepens the more time, and breaths, you spend there.

I arrived early for the 8pm class and sat quietly soaking in the natural calm of the courtyard with the intent to relax, become aware of my energy, and open myself to the new class.  When Master Cobalis arrived he graciously and with genuine connection welcomed me.  He's the real deal, and I can tell that he will be a superb master to learn from.

I comfortably immersed in the class, and enjoyed the flow and group energy, very nice and welcoming class, worked both with the group and with an individual instructor. She reviewed my posture, breathing, body alignment while teaching me the "12 step" form allowing me to mirror her until I internalized the form and could flow through it on my own.  I have the form steps internalized and have been practicing the form throughout the day yesterday, and will continue to practice it throughout the day until I have the next class this evening.  The class is Tues. and Thurs. evenings (with additional classes available at the training academy of Grand Master Yi, Master Cobalis' teacher, and founder of the World Tukong Moosul Federation)!

Awareness of my inner energy and life force (Chi) and learning to consciously blend it with my intent, breathing, and movement is a core element of my studio creativity.  Whether that's expressed through contemplating  possibilities and sitting in stillness with the uncertainty of the creative process, or while dynamically immersed in a brush stroke, pastel mark, or wield of the palette knife.

Pure Flow....

If the awareness, cultivation, and expression (sharing) of Chi energy is the fundamental life force behind creative practice then the relationship to one's tools (palette, knives and brushes, etc...) and mediums (paint, pastel, ink...etc...) is essential.  The palette knife, like the samurai sword, is the immediate extension of ones awareness, focus, and application in the moment.  The paint or any medium is quite literally the manifestation of creative intent, Chi, taken form.

When a guitarist (or any musician) takes instrument in hand the potential for creative vibration is directly transferred from the mind/energy through the body to the finger/pick and into the string....the micro variations in physical application radiate through the musician into and through the instrument...outward to the observer/participant/appreciator.    The palate knife (brush, sponge, rag...), then, like the guitar pick, is the means of transferring Chi directly onto the surface plane.  Sound vibration is the creative life force of the musician made manifest...visual vibrations emitted from the surface to the viewer via the interaction of the wide spectrum of mediums (paint, color, gels, etc....) and light is the creative Chi of the painter made manifest.

Enter Jerry's Artarama, the fun house (or tool shed, however you prefer to look at it :))) where I went to wander the aisles of creative potential!  My intent was to pick up an array of palette knives to begin exploring the range of expressive marks and painting methods inherent in each.  Mission accomplished.  There are knives for mixing paints, scraping paints off of the surface plane, and knifes for troweling paint on.

[Caution semi-educational marketing blurb ahead...] 

The Ultimate Painting Knives!

These Italian-style painting knives are made from polished stainless steel, tempered to provide just the right amount of give for the perfect painting response. Each blade is fixed into its wooden handle with the aid of a brass collar, and the comfort-grip handles feature a deep walnut stain for beauty and durability. 

With 60 shapes to choose from, you're sure to find the perfect style for every painting endeavor. Each series "T" knife features an offset, trowel-shaped blade, making it easy to work the knife into the painting. Series "F" knives feature a traditional, flat blade perfect for mixing. Series "S" knives feature scraper blades for shaping, contouring and scraping designs into your compositions, or for removing color.

Oh Joy....!  Who knew?!  Tossing the plastic palette knives I used the other day to enter the world of paint sketching into the archival pile of "art toys" I thrilled to the touch of these knew blades... They immediately made their function known when I held them.... The real deal.

I picked up a couple of sponge applicators to explore as well....

An intuitive purchase I didn't expect was to upgrade my mixing palette.  Like the plastic palette knives I had lying around, I had grabbed a small plastic travel water color palette that I was using to mix colors.  If paint, mediums, and colors are the direct physical manifestation of Chi energy...then the paint palette is the mixing cauldron, the crucible, within which experimentation and recipe's for paint consistencies and color are worked out....where all paint will manifest before being loaded to the knife/brush and transferred to the surface plane....with this appreciation I invested in a Golden Panda Porcelain Palette Treasure. 

[Caution semi-educational marketing blurb ahead...] 

Classic Butcher's Tray Palette - Measuring 11.8" × 15.75" × 2" high, this impressive tray is smooth at the bottom and is heavyweight so it won't move about when you are painting. Much better than metal coated tray palettes this is made to professional standards. Use it for virtually any media from watercolors to oil colors. 

  

The result of having the right tools in hand this evening was a revelation.  Sponge applicators were the right tool for laying down a color field, while the palette knives danced and sang as colors were mixed and strokes practiced right in the mixing tray....Immediate feedback on color mix and stroke potential.   

After my first session using these new tools I discovered that the combination of palette knives and mixing tray is exactly that....a treasure.  In using them for the first time the world of color exploration opened up.  Mixing colors has the feel of blade to whet stone energy transferred directly to paint...potential made manifest, a quickening of anticipation as paint is loaded onto the natural blade for the intended mark....and painting happens... pure joy!  Two hours evaporated like the early morning mist on a spring lake.  New color combinations were explored and internalized...the feel of the new knives was experienced and applied. 

Pure flow!  :)))

Focus of Study: Qi(Chi) and Creativity

Chi and Creativity  Vital Energy and Your Inner Artist

Elise Dirlam Ching and Kaleo Ching (Blue Snake Books, 2007)

[from the back cover]

The capacity to create is part of being human - whether that means making art, writing, teaching, cooking for friends, gardening, giving a massage, nurturing relationships, or following a spiritual path.  Nourishing and maximizing your vital energy, or Chi, is an essential part of fulfilling your human potential.  In Chi and Creativity, authors Elise Dirlam Ching and Kaleo Ching present a wide range of strategies to harness the power of Chi and cultivate the inner artist.  They offer an integrative process that includes exercises in Chi awareness, Chi Kung, art, journaling, guided imagery, and meditation, to generate inspiration, awe, and energy for living a creative life.

A little knife music....

A facet of trusting the creative process is recapturing a sense of wonder, play, and discovery.

Using a pad of Strathmore Wet Media multipurpose paper I allowed myself the freedom and intention to play with color and the dynamic tactile variations of marks and strokes made with a palatte knife.

This simple, direct, kinetic exercise felt like a bold, uninhibited, spontaneous, dynamic dialog between the viscosity of the paint, the loading (and double loading) of the knife, and the movement and pressure of the stroke to paper.  Within the session I began to explore the relationship of my breathing, posture, and intention to the transfer of paint into kinetic marks onto a variably thirsty paper.  The resulting marks are fluid, dynamic and visually interesting.

This intuitive sketching process of exploring color and mark making feels wonderful (ask any 5 year old), and yields surprising insights both visually and into the nature of the materials themselves. This exercise points the way towards a process for building  experiential breathing/muscle/intention memories to inform future exploration and compositional applications.  Endless possibilities for exploring the infinite variability of dynamic marks in paint... It's like practicing my handwriting, but with absolutely no right or wrong, good or bad....just Is.   :)))

Focus of study: Trust the Process

Trust The Process:  An Artist's Guide To Letting Go

Shawn McNiff (Shambhala, 1998)

[from the back cover]

Whether in painting, poetry, performance, music, dance, or life, there is an intelligence working in every situation. This force is the primary carrier of creation.

If we trust it and follow its natural movement, it will astound us with its ability to find a way through problems—and even make creative use of our mistakes and failures.

There is a magic to this process that cannot be controlled by the ego. Somehow it always finds the way to the place where you need to be, and a destination you never could have known in advance.

When everything seems as if it is hopeless and going nowhere . . . trust the process.

Getting to the Heart of the Matter

In observing the ebb and flow of engagement with this blog, and it's "Urban SketchHunter" theme, I've noticed a pattern and insight into why a steady momentum of engagement with the blogging process has ebbed as much, or more, than it has flowed.   This blog is a medium for self expression and exploration of creative ideas, efforts, results, and process. The Urban SketchHunter theme focused my return to the creative studio, and getting out and about, learning and doing.   Sketching has its own process and flow, and the material forms that emerge, whether considered preparatory or finished in their own regard, have intrinsic and extrinsic qualities and aesthetics, and an important place within a creative practice.   I know deep within my bones and emotional system, that when I'm sketching, time can stand still, perception sharpens, and energy flows in deep engagement and joy, and a spiritual and material experience emerges, regardless of what materially takes form.  Creativity.  The point of the moment, though, is the practice of sketching, regardless of the subject matter, urban or otherwise, is but one facet of the creative process that I'm interested in pursuing and practicing. 

The blog entries to date are an archive of this process and provide evidence that sketching from life is a vital practice.  A practice that will continue to thrive and deepen within a larger creative context.  It's  this larger creative context that I'm fundamentally interested in, and will be exploring as the central blog journal theme.  The blog will serve as a medium for distilling and expression of my personal practice of getting to the heart of the matter.  The form this will take, at the moment, is pure potential, but it will emerge and evolve over time....as the journey continues to unfold...  :)))

Sketchbook notes

Quick gestural sketch (under 5 min) looking for value masses and thinking in terms of foreground (glass and backpack), middle ground (seated figures) and background (suggested room and people with pictures and windows about 30' away).   It is much more interesting, fun, and fluid to sketch this way, as opposed to becoming distracted by details and drawing objects....in defining the value masses and simplifying the details the "identity" and nature of the subject and objects emerge spontaneously.....

Sketchbook notes

Sketchbook notes:   composition basics:

1. Crop for drama
2. Look for value masses
3. Design divisions with rhythm
4. Keep shapes interesting
5. Avoid attracting attention to the edges
6  Create depth with overlap
7. Watch the corners
8. Create an entrance
9. Organize your masses
10.  Organize eye movement with gradations
11. Use straight lines  to balance and "seat" curves
12. Think foreground, middle ground, and background

Quick thumbnail value sketch (10 min or less) looking for value masses, interesting shapes, and balance...

Focus of study: Composition

In honor of the winter months the studio process will include a foundational shift from "sketch hunting" to "composition hunting". The end objective in mind is to focus less on the "subject matter" and look behind it to the arrangement of shapes on the picture plane and the creation of visual flow within a sketch or painting. A shift from the effort to create an engaging and recognizable sketch through object-driven drawing....drawing a person, a building, a tree, a plant, a bicycle, "Jo's coffee Shop", ...etc...to exploring the range and visual dynamics of the picture plane, regardless of the subject matter at hand.

The primary instructional resource is Ian Roberts' text: Mastering Composition: Techniques and Principles to Dramatically Improve Your Painting.


The primary exercise is the "composition a day"...it's not intended to be a regimented focus on creating at least one composition a day....but rather the intention that whenever engaged in the creative "hunt" that the focus embodies "a sketch journal adventure exploring and falling in love with the world one composition @ a time".

Summertime....and the Livin' is easy............

Apparently I was destined to take an unplanned summer hiatus from the studio...who knew?!

The break serves me well as a snapshot for recognizing my vulnerability to creative disconnect and the experience is a lesson that fuels my impetus to forever renew my license to create.

To organize my learning and facilitate a committed connection to my creative nature, I'm focusing on an MCSA (Master of Creative Studio Arts) curriculum which will be an intuitive and organic (read: "self-taught" ;) pursuit of practical experience in the creative studio process as a way of life.

Fall 2009 MCSA Curriculum

Creativity - Studio Process

Readings:

McNiff, Shaun (1998); Trust the Process: An Artist's Guide to Letting Go, New York, Shambhala

Whether in painting, poetry, performance, music, dance, or life there is an intelligence working in every situation. This force is the primary carrier of creation.

If we trust it and follow its natural movement, it will astound us with its ability to find a way through problems - and even make creative use of our mistakes and failures

There is magic to this process that cannot be controlled by the ego. Somehow it always finds the way to the place where you need to be, and a destination you never could have known in advance.

When everything seems hopeless and going nowhere.....trust the process.

Color Expression

Readings:

Quiller, Stephen (1999); Painter's Guide to Color, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York.

Innovative and accessible color-theory techniques to train your eye to see and use color in
exciting ways.

Leland, Nita (2008); An Artist's Guide to Harmony, Contrast, and Unity, Northlight Boo ks,Cincinnati Ohio

The learning themes for Fall09 are:

1. Establish a consistent internalized trusting connection to the Creative Process.
2. Explore the world of color as it relates to abstract and objective compositions through creative play with digital painting, acrylic, and oil pastel mediums.
3. Maintain sketchbook and blog practices as conduits for discovery, connectivity and ongoing documentation of commitment to the Creative Process.

studio sprite

Aiki, the first of the studio sprites to make itself known; is a DoubtEater, whose unconditional loving gaze embodies the joyful Creative Spirit, and dispels all doubt in the face of the Void of the blank canvas.  

It's said that you can whisper into its ears an offering of your deepest held creative fears, doubts, self-criticisms, etc... and that you'll always be met with a wonderous, unwavering and loving gaze radiating compassion for your fears, and sparkling with a glimmer that flows from the Creative Spirit.  With the gentle giggling-like sounds of the rustling and fluttering of its shimmering irridescent plumes, Aiki takes the  sounds of your doubts in one ear and joyfully shakes them out the other, as if nothing, no more weighty than the last few drops of a warm summer rain.   Aiki playfully flits, nudges, and nestles the spaces around your head, heart and hands, reassuring you with an offering of the gift of an ever new moment within which you too can embody the Creative Spirit.....

Aiki spirit: unconditional unlimited, copyright free!

Image:  copyright 2009 b. scott shaevel | studio712; This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.   

Reflections: Journey of the Mind in Space (or the artists quantum quandary...where to paint that first rock?.....)

A creative and spiritual friend, remarked in response to seeing the top sketch in the previous post below that it reminded her of a Japanese zen garden. She explained..."look at the structure and colors from the Japanese garden in Portland and look at your top sketch. They speak the same language. The garden - it's just amazing and one of the most tranquil places to be in the city.

I'll forever be grateful for that comment.

Her words resonated deeply and clearly expressed a connection between studio efforts to explore the application of various mediums into expressive visual form and an intuitive pre-verbal "story" behind it. Associations rippled and memories fired illuminating and connecting paths I'd searched in past contexts like martial arts kata competition and Aikido's "Dynamic Sphere" as an intuitive clairscentient practice. These were physical exercises in the effort to integrate mind and body, and develop an awareness and appreciation of "flow" while pursuing opportunities to embody it in the moment. The suggested context of the Japanese zen garden in response to the abstract sketch below connected this powerful pathway to the studio practice. Not with a resounding "click", though the fly on the wall may have jumped into flight just the same, but with a "vibrating flowing buzzing joyful silence" - in this light, the practice of contemplating, composing, and integrating line, form, structure and colors that speak "the same language" as the Japanese zen garden, becomes the joyful study and pursuit of opportunities to embody in the moment, the patterns of flow.

excerpt - Alan Watts | The Watercourse Way

The Tao is a certain kind of order, and this kind of order is not quite what we call order when we arrange everything geometrically in boxes, or in rows. That is a very crude kind of order, but when you look at a plant it is perfectly obvious that the plant has order. We recognize at once that is not a mess, but it is not symmetrical and it is not geometrical looking. The plant looks like a Chinese drawing, because they appreciated this kind of non-symmetrical order so much that it became an integral aspect of their painting. In the Chinese language this is called li, and the character for li means the markings in jade. It also means the grain in wood and the fiber in muscle. We could say, too, that clouds have li, marble has li, the human body has li. We all recognize it, and the artist copies it whether he is a landscape painter, a portrait painter, an abstract painter, or a non-objective painter. They all are trying to express the essence of li. The interesting thing is, that although we all know what it is, there is no way of defining it. Because Tao is the course, we can also call li the watercourse, and the patterns of li are also the patterns of flowing water. We see those patterns of flow memorialized, as it were, as sculpture in the grain in wood, which is the flow of sap, in marble, in bones, in muscles. All these things are patterned according to the basic principles of flow. --

A lifelong adventure mapped in the i-ki dip of pen in ink, the scratch of point along ground, the flow of oil pastelled into life through the breadth of the wrist........a joyful way to live a making!


note:
top image: copyright Troy Kujala; Troy Kujala Photography
middle image: copyright Ron Cooper; Ron Cooper Photography
bottom image: copyright Yvonne Mestre ; Mesman Images

sketchbook;  ink and oil pastel; 4" x 4, Raffine paper

sketchbook;  ink and oil pastel; 4" x 4, Raffine paper

copyright 2009 b. scott shaevel | studio712;  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Two abstract pen and ink and oil pastel technique exercise sketches. These 4 x 4 sketches are done purely to explore different drawing and painting techniques with the media.

I've discovered the joy of drawing with a dip/fountain pen. I'll be exploring sketching more with the dip pen rather than the illustration drawing pens since the range of expressive line from the nib pen is incomparable. There is something very meditative about the surface tension and adjustments to hand pressure that occur between the stylus nib and the paper that is missing with the continuous flow pens. Also the rhythm of drawing and pausing to dip and resuming the drawing is relaxing and gives time for taking a breath to fuel the next line. The Raffine sketch paper holds up beautifully to multiple wet washes, pen and ink nibs, and scrafitto drawing into the oil pastel layers for an etched line texture and scratchboard-like technique for revealing underlying layers of color in line...("Scraffito" from the Italian word “to scratch”).

In the process of cataloging reference color swatches on Raffine sketch book paper (100lb, off-white 25% cotton, archival sheets) that has a fast velvety feel to it, (even when writing text with a ballpoint pen)! Going to test this paper with Golden acrylic ground for pastels for doing general color chord and color layer build up experiments.  I'm also in the process of digitizing the color sets for use with Corel Painter for digital pastel color/composition experiments. In addition to the full 120 set, I'm making corresponding groups for the Landscape, Portrait, and Still Life oil pastel sets.  A few of the colors (pinks and light yellows) get washed out in the light of the scan so those will have to be digitized by eye.

Sennelier 120 ColorSet

Sennelier 24 Landscape ColorSet

This exercise is a fun, and surprising way to experience every color in the set and to begin internalizing the colors before exploring color schemes and specific compositions. The biggest surprise was the colors.  These sing out and shimmer and I'm eager to see how they play well with others.

Sennelier bliss....

Oh joy!! The Sennelier 120 Box set arrived today. I lost no time liberating them from their cozy wood storage/display box to center stage at the workstation. Like the starting line up at the Kentucky derby all 120 thoroughbreds are straining in the gate, shimmering at the ready for their rollicking color study furlongs.

I plan to explore each sumptuous stick with a swatch sample as well as creating an equivalent Corel Painter "Senellier 120" digital color swatch set. With the corresponding digital "Sonnelier" pastel palette, I'll employ Painter's wide array of natural media digital oil pastel "brushes" and with the expressive responsiveness of the Wacom pen tablet, will explore endless compositional and color study possibilities in preparation for putting Sennelier pastel to panel. I'll be documenting the work flow process here, as well as posting the pieces, for anyone else that may be interested in exploring this approach to color study and creativity in oil pastels.

Pure Bliss...!

This set of extraordinary pastels is a birthday gift from my parents, whose love and enthusiastic shared enjoyment of my artistic adventure is a joyous, priceless blessing... I dedicate all that flows from this gift to them.

Reflections: Worlds Collide

I set aside the weekend to take a break from looking outward to the urban landscape for forms, compositions, and subject matter, and to dedicate studio time to a relaxed study of color theory as it relates to sketching, drawing, and plein aire painting.

Through exploring color, I discovered the need to expand, by half, my personal definition of "sketch hunting". It became clear that looking to the external landscape as the sole source from which to translate perceptions of the world into representational sketches is only 180^o of the sketch hunting terrain. A fundamental subterranean 180^o of the sketch hunting grounds is to be found within and adds the soul source to the sketch hunting creative process.

This weekend's color study included exploring "color chords", the intuitive attraction and arrangement of a color set (Connie Smith Siegel's "The Spirit of Color") . In lieu of stacks of colored papers, as proposed by Siegel, I arranged color chord (or "theme") palettes through readily available digital tools. I found Adobe Kuler and Color Explorer to be extremely useful. The first surprise was the pure joy of perceiving color arrays and relationships for their own sake. Having intuited a color chord I reached for drawing media at hand, hard and soft pastels, found sticks to closely match the chord colors I'd chosen, and created my first color improv study. The two color studies below use the same color chord, though expressed with different media.

colorImprov_01 (7" x 5") | hard/soft chalk Pastel | 4.19.09
copyright 2009 b. scott shaevel | studio712; This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Freed from the confines of representational sketching, the next discovery was that my awareness was more fully focused on the two elemental forces of the sketching exploration, color and the medium itself. A flowing surprise was an emergent meditative appreciation of the physically expressive influence of the drawing medium on the "aiki" of the sketching action. It was refreshing, literally, to experience a visceral connection with the "dance" of the drawing movement as it expressed into form. When sketching the external world I often notice "pressure" or cognitive "demand" driving the process, and into the medium, in the effort to "muscle" visual perceptions into representational line and form. Communion with the physical act of drawing can be overpowered, and the act of sketching becomes merely an expedient to the visual end product. This driven tension was replaced during this improvisational color sketch with a relaxed flow of enjoyment and receptive internal exploration of a meditative expressive state. Creative "tension" still existed, but it's nature is very different, rather than the sketching actions being driven to "represent" some thing(s), the meeting of the medium to the "matte" was fueled by an energetic and expressive response to breathing and color through movement.

A final surprise emerged when I picked up the oil pastels for the second color improv study. I was struck immediately with the elemental differences between the oil pastel and the hard/soft chalk pastels.

colorImprove_02 (7" x 5"; thumbnail 3.5" x 2") | Oil Pastel | 4.19.09
copyright 2009 b. scott shaevel | studio712; This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

The nature of the oil pastel, it's maleable blending, and receptivity to scratching and lifting of pigment, felt familiar and intuitive...it's reminiscent of the many hours I've spent scrimshaw etching. Being able to etch and draw/sketch into the color was like returning home after being away for a long time, though no "real time" had actually passed.

The season has officially opened on internal sketch hunting, an endless source of discovery and experimentation as two intimately related sketch hunting grounds coalesce!