Developing Style

There’s nothing like a sun-warmed loquat right off the tree!

Hi Friends,

I saw a wonderful video with mixed media artist Shawn Petite where she talks about wandering without having to be productive. Yes! That’s what I’ve been doing in my daily sketchbook. Wandering with no particular purpose or plan. Exploring and experimenting. Trying new techniques and materials, just for the pure fun and pleasure of it. It’s very freeing.

Below are some of my wanderings that I thought I would share with you today.

I’ve been continuing with pieces that use one or two colors with black and white, and including cutout words or phrases.

I was happy with them, and then I discovered Kuretake sumi inks and metallic paints. These paints and inks come in sets of small watercolor pans, and the colors are fabulous.

The sumi inks are especially wonderful. The set includes six shades of black: black-violet, -red, -blue, -green, -yellow and -brown. They’re more gritty than watercolor paints, and they move and dry in unusual ways. I’m amazed by the effects I can get with them.

Things were going along smoothly, until I came to this next piece, which I overworked. I often find it difficult to constrain myself, and I sometimes don’t stop when I should. I didn’t know what to do with it, so I glued a piece of stained cardboard on top, and I think it looks kind of interesting now.

The next piece was also difficult. I had a dream in which the following image appeared. I don’t know what it means, but I decided to use it in a piece.

I printed it on parchment paper, and that’s when my problems began. My printer left a white streak on the text. Rather than attempting to reprint, I decided to go with it. Then the splattered-on sumi ink smeared when I applied the image with matte medium. Next the parchment paper buckled. I drew some circles in pencil, and the paper started to fragment and tear. I really didn’t think I could save this piece, but I decided to give it a try. Here’s the “before” picture with the edges taped off:

And here’s the picture after I collaged on some napkin pieces with gold stars on them and wrinkled tissue paper. Then I used the black-green and black-red sumi inks, and now it looks much better!

This final piece started off with text, spirograph drawings and wrinkled tissue paper. Then I got a little heavy handed with the sumi ink and had to introduce some gold stars and amorphous white circles to tone down the darkness a bit.

You can see how much my art has changed over the course of just two weeks. Committing to a daily practice in my sketchbook has allowed me to try out a lot of materials and techniques I had never used before. It also gives me a reference for what I do and don’t like. By looking through the sketchbook I can hone in on what I want to do more of and what I want to eliminate, thus further defining my style.

Please note that I have not included pictures of the complete failures here! What’s that phrase — if you’re not failing you’re not trying? The thing is, I have to experiment if I want to change and grow, otherwise I’m just treading water in the comfort zone. And experimentation, by definition, doesn’t always go well.

What defines your style, and how did you arrive at it? I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts. You can share them with us in the comments section below.

With love and appreciation,
Cassandra