Cut, Paste, and Scale

Not being able to visualize an art project motivates me as an artist.

I was mulling over different ways to render the hyperbolic paraboloid after creating 30-8” models in bamboo last winter. 

An early version, bamboo, 12"

Hyperbolic Paraboloid in a Cube, bamboo & acrylic paint, 8"

4 Hyperbolic Paraboloids in combination 

I liked the idea of building the artwork rather than simply continuing to render it by drawing or painting the image.  I settled on using drywall tape to create a piece.  It costs about a penny a foot and it won’t wrinkle when painted.  How would it weave together to build that torqued grid of the hyperbolic paraboloid?  

"Hyperbolic Paraboloid with Equations", acrylic on canvas, 14" x 7"  ©  James Thatcher  2016

It didn’t!  

It became a surprise braid instead. 

Drywall tape sketch, 48" x 24"

Here’s a brief time lapse video of an early take on the project.  Notice the shaped canvas in the background.  Ideas to extend the original concept are already underway. 

The braid image has some issues as a focus project because it’s simply too big at 48” across.  What size makes sense?  How would you present it?  Mounted on a plywood panel?  Pinned to the wall?  As shaped canvas paintings? 

Exploring the range of sizes from ¾ scale to 1/8 scale offered many possibilities but presentation was still an issue.  The 1/3 scale seems best as it yields a finished piece of 16” x 8” which can be effective as an individual unit.  Combining pieces still maintains a manageable size.

Scale comparison, full size to 1/3 scale

I can mount these to sheets of paper or float them in simple metal frames.  I could laminate them and suspend them because both sides are different.  

Front side of braid, gesso on drywall tape, 16" x 8"

Back side

4 braids in combination, gesso on drywall tape, 16" x 16"

Lots of Possibilities!

You know how caterers make spiraling stacks of napkins? It seemed like a simple presentation but that project held a surprise.  Here's a 30 second time lapse video of the effort (I really like the soundtrack):

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On Moving...

Artwork in full swing is set aside to pack a full household. Creating with the knowledge that life is completely changing is vanity.

A report many years ago declared that the United States was so large that it effectively contained nine separate countries.  Consider regional accents and colloquialism, attitudes and even recipes…I fully believe this.

 

And this gives me pause as an artist.

All of those accents, attitudes and recipes are new and different influences.  The culture which was feeding the previous artwork is gone.  I am immersed elsewhere.

 

I do different things now and have different experiences. Different people surround me.  Continuing with the same body of artwork?  I’ve striven to do that before but it just doesn’t work that way.

Now this move is complete.  I pursue my great interest in fishing since we are twenty minutes from the ocean.  Fascinating stuff is there:  Flounder! 

And detritus!  I found a wonderful vertebrae of some sort of large fish that was so curious that I had to (had to!) render it.  My interest was in learning its lines.  It was profoundly abstract; a very lovely and hidden thing.  What if this became an eight foot tall sculpture?

And sand fleas!  I use them for bait and thousands of them are swarming in every wash of the surf.  They are creepy but complicated critters and worthy of examination.  I am faithfully drawing them to internalize their structure. 

So life goes on.  I create, but not continuing with work from another region, time and influence.  This isn’t what I thought I’d be doing.  It isn’t market savvy.  It isn’t clever or charming.  I find it compelling though; the stuff if not the art. And I’m about exploring it.


This is a strange new world.  Always.


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The Decision and the End of Artist's Block"

"Pi", 8" x 10", Acrylic & gesso, chalk & pencil on primed mat board;  ©  2015
Prints available--message me for details.

“Artist’s Block” is rooted in fear.  Fear of mistakes.  Fear of messing up.  Fear of failure.  All of these will impede beginning.  Beginning is the end of Artist’s Block.

Indecision is the result of this fear.  Making “The Decision” is the key.  The idea is to create something to respond to.  The Decision is probably going to be wrong anyway but it will prompt a reaction.  

"Hyperbolic Paraboloid Sketch", 8" x 10", Gesso, chalk & pencil on primed mat board;  ©  2015
Prints Available--Message me for details.  Collection Steve Nyland

Responding is the key to unlocking creativity.  It doesn't even matter if the idea and execution are awful.  But get the ball rolling and believe that you have what it takes to figure it out.  It’s easier to work with something than to work with nothing.

It’s like editing.  You can’t edit what isn’t there.  Your artwork is in motion as long as you can determine a problem and consider a solution.  Problem solving is creative.  Trust your instincts.  Don’t quit until it works.

"Tree of Life, 6 Points", 8" x 10", Acrylic & Gesso, chalk & pencil on primed mat board; ©  2015
Backed, shrink wrapped and shipped anywhere in the lower 48 for $65.

I run into this hesitation in my studio these days with each new piece.  When I was in the midst of a focus project I knew what the next step was at the end of the day and what to do when I got back into the studio.

"Black Transformation Hexagon", 72" x 72", Gesso white wash on roofing felt; ©  2015
Unframed, rolled and shipped anywhere in the lower 48 for $400

Free range artwork is a whole different process in the wake of the focus project.  Each piece requires fresh inspiration, new insight and solutions.  OUCH! 

I am currently reworking last year’s abstract drawings with mathematics.  Each piece relates to different equations, parabolas or geometry--eventually. 

"Sweetgrass Drawing", Gesso & chalk on primed mat board;  ©  2014
Prints available--message me for details.

I continually say, “Make a decision.  It doesn’t matter if it works right now.  It will work.”  Each painting has required response after response to those initial decisions.  Each painting resolves itself into a fine and unusual artwork—WINNING!

"Parabola Oops", Acrylic & gesso, chalk & pencil on primed mat board;  ©  2015
Backed, shrink wrapped and shipped anywhere in the lower 48 for $65.

If you are avoiding your studio I want to encourage you. Make a decision on that painting that has you stuck.  If it’s the empty canvas (or page) that has you stuck then just slam it.  Make something to paint out and see what that looks like.  Then paint it out again.  And then paint that out.  What colors have evolved?  What textures? 

"Sweetgrass Parabola", 8" x 10", Acrylic & gesso, chalk & pencil on primed mat board; ©  2015
Backed, shrink wrapped and shipped anywhere in the lower 48 for $65.

Work with what emerges.  Let it tell you what’s happening, what it is and where it’s going.  All you need to do is push it and follow it.  Do it.  Make it.  It’s only art, right?

Have faith--it’s more fun than fear.  You will not fail if you do not quit. Let me know how it works out for you.

"Hypar Quad w/Circles", 8" x 10", Acrylic & gesso, chalk & pencil on primed mat board; ©  2015  
Backed, shrink wrapped and shipped anywhere in the lower 48 for $65.

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Focus Project

I’m making thirty identical paintings.  They're each 8” x 10” and modeled after a study of a blue gradient Tree of Life hexagon.  

"Transformation Hexagon"  ©  2015

This image's step-by-step process make it a natural choice for this sort of project.  Focusing on the same shape, same colors, same process, technique and size will yield the same result X 30.

This is the most controversial assignment given by our faculty at the Corcoran College of Art + Design (Washington, DC, 1980’s). However, it was given after 2 months of free range creativity. Nobody mentioned it, but the piles of artwork generated during that first stage were about discovering our modus operandi and ONE image.  

A piece that summed up the range of our unfettered production; our free association, lateral thinking, uninhibited choices in art making that sidestepped our fault-finding, self-filtering, uptight, judgmental fearful selves.

Duplicating that one piece thirty times through the Focus Project was an exercise in discipline and an example of what to do when you found that idea worth pursuing.

Sometimes logistics becomes sculpture.

We do an awful lot of artwork in a lifetime.  We produce drawings and sketches, and ideas that take over our imaginations.  We rush on to generate more ideas, sketches, and proposals…. 

And then what--continue the search for “the next big thing”?  Ugh….

Let’s stay with that brilliant, reduced idea.  Why discard it in the search for another?  They're worth holding onto.  When you find it, focus.  

A focus project brings a meditation on an image, finding out all that it holds and in the process of re-iteration controlled progress reveals itself.  

Side work produced during the current Focus Project.

Thinking becomes ordered, step-by-step instead of random.  Your body of work becomes cohesive and its coherence is evident.  Clarity becomes a trait of your artwork and process.  The directions you take become manageable choices that your clients and fan base follow as well.

Dare to impose a little discipline into the mix.  Hammer out thirty!  You might like it.  If nothing else, you’ll find a few that really sing!  You’ll internalize the image, as well as the focus processes and the multiples aesthetic.  You’ll have that ability and insight as a permanent part of your creative options.  

Who can argue with increasing one’s creative options?  

It’s an investment in yourself; in your discovery.  Your work merits the investigation.  This sort of output declares the importance of your own thinking, research and imagery.

And here’s a surprise:  I’m not making 30 paintings, I’m making one. 

                                                                                                        
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A Moment in the Studio

Recently, I had a moment in the studio that made me stop everything! 

You know how you’ll have your agenda set, your process well directed, all systems GO—me too!  Letting the process take over has allowed paintings to emerge without preconceived notions.  Ah, to be so free….

But this time the picture jolted together before me and I was stunned.  Let me explain:

I’d killed my current painting a couple of times already.  I had a strong bed of texture laid down:  hay and cattails (bulrushes) embedded in a pool of dried latex paint.  Typically I use the lines from the textural underpainting to direct the subject matter, but it just wasn’t working out this time.

So I’d painted over the whole uptight mess—twice now.  I’d gotten a beautiful effect during paint-over #1 by applying a dark wash of watery paint over my texture.  I decided to do that again. 

All was going as according to plan.   The dark wash had gathered into all the pockets of that voluptuous surface and I was forging ahead with a new course of action.

"Sweetgrass Drawing  23/30", 8" x 10", Pastel and Gesso on Prepared Board

I decided that this time I would use the above drawing as a model for the painting.  My plan was to use my data projector to shoot the drawing onto the canvas and simply paint it in.  However I couldn’t get the distance in my studio to enlarge the drawing enough—C’MON MAN!

I couldn’t seem to get a break with this painting!  The next day I decided that I could use the grid formula to increase the scale of the drawing and transfer it to the painting.   A piece of cake, old school but imminently doable….

This decision proved to be the game changer.

I measured out a 12” array over the surface and drew the lines in with charcoal.  The panel was laid on saw horses and as I finished the grid I set it up to begin the transfer process.

GASP. 

I saw it in an instant—a nano-instant. 

The grid broke up this epic field of texture into bite sized portions.  It isolated sections so that they became a group of individual pieces rather than an incomprehensible whole.  The visually overwhelming (who knew?) had become manageable.

In a rush of realization I set down the charcoal and stepped away from the painting.  Oh my goodness, what have I done!?

It was actually interesting!  The different pieces compared so well to each other…my eye was bouncing from one section to the next, over and across—I had to sit down.  I’d been knocked from Abstract Expressionism into Minimalism in one aesthetic hammer blow.

 

And I haven't gone back...

In just a few days I’ve completed 3 other highly textured grid paintings using different colored washes for the background.  I’ve filled in the squares with fabulous colors (say goodbye to the latex neutrals!).  

I’ve left sections empty on some paintings.  I’ve left a group of 4 large panels void of any further markings after gorgeous blue green washes.  I’ve built 18 small square surfaces for a grid installation painting which are now heaped with hay and bulrushes and drying in the barn.

The current studio view

And the struggle, the noodling and the exertion, effort and strain of composing the “brilliant and breathtaking” is gone.  I’d had the nagging feeling that this work with the hay  didn't need to go much further, but I just hadn't found the way yet. 

Now it’s full steam ahead.

If you have frustration or nagging feelings with your creations, Listen To That.  Where are they coming from?  What do they mean?  They were telling me that what I was doing wasn't what I needed; that  I was pushing past my own artwork.

Blow it out—figure it out—talk it out—work it out.  Be bold, be alert, and look for your moment.  Expect it.  Grab it.  Run with it!

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Studio Strategies--The Treadmill!

Consider this idea as you have started to gain momentum in the studio, or have a problem area in your current artwork.


Over the winter I got into the habit of using our treadmill in my studio.  What a great way to look at art!  With nothing else to distract, aesthetic issues get an in-depth viewing with plenty of time to consider, “What if…”


I saw an article on CBS Sunday Morning about incorporating treadmills into the office, with workstations outfitted for pacing.  They made the point that endorphins are released, increasing creative thinking.  I’ve definitely experienced this as I tread before my paintings.

I regularly have concerns about my abstract images.  What’s working, what isn’t; what’s the matter, why doesn’t it work?  Often I will put off decisions about that next step until I’ve had a chance to tread before the artwork.

Sometimes I am anxious as I enter my studio:  what needs doing, deadlines, or ordering my day.  The treadmill is a great way to sort it all out.  It’s perhaps counter intuitive, because I feel urgency about getting started.  But the exercise orders my thinking.  Inevitably, I end my workout knowing what to do and how to do it.

I go for 45 minutes at the beginning of my studio day.  I slowly build up to 3.5 mph at 6 degrees incline.  It takes about 20 minutes to get there; I hold it for 10 minutes, and then back off for the final 15 minutes.  Not a grueling pace, but it gets the job done.  Hydrate!

I’m considering including treadmills in exhibitions of my artwork.  I want to encourage viewers to regard my pieces more thoroughly.  It’s an accomplishment to get 30 seconds of serious consideration for a painting from exhibit attendees…how about 5 minutes from treading? 

5 minutes while looking at an artwork won’t release any endorphins, but that’s a significant increase in viewing time.  What if a treadmill was installed for every painting—or maybe every 2 or 3 pieces?  That would be a more practical arrangement as a number of artworks could be viewed per station.  What about groups of treadmills, so more than one viewer could participate at once? 


Would this encourage interaction between viewers?  Would people become self-conscious? 

The treadmill creates an interactive element, which is novel for a standard exhibition of paintings.  Perhaps this would create opportunities for different kinds of exhibits and venues?  Maybe the gym!

At any rate, if you’ve got the machine give it a try!  I’ve been surprised by the quality of viewing experience.  By the end of my session any aesthetic choices have been well considered.  I have utter confidence going forward.  I've weighed my options, visualized the results and resolved the situation...all before touching brush to canvas.

It’s a great approach to problem solving!  

http://jtnwdc.wix.com/jamesthatcherarts 

Idea Generation Drawings--Getting ReStarted

This series is geared towards artists who want to get re-started in the studio after a long break.

Also referred to as “Ideations”, the Idea Generation Drawing is all about producing ideas quickly.  Each drawing builds upon the last.  It’s a fast way to discover and explore ideas.  One day you may find that your sheets are finished works in themselves.

Take a sheet of 18”x24” drawing paper and divide it into 16 equal sections.  In art school we were told to fold the sheet in half, then again, again and again—16 quick equal sections.  Now get your kitchen timer and set it for 5 minutes.  Yes, 5 minutes.

GO!  At this pace you have less than 20 seconds to fill each section.  I encourage you to finish your first sheets in under 5 minutes.  

Why?  We are most interested in getting restarted through this series of posts.  It is extremely important to see yourself produce a full sheet of drawings, regardless of what you think about the level of finish or quality.  In fact, do not think at all about quality or finish with this work.  Our interest lies in the flow of ideas, their encouragement and their direction.

Do a second sheet of idea generation drawings.  Make sure you follow the time limit and get all the spaces filled.  It may not be easy for you, but again, we are approaching this exercise as a re-starting technique.  Don’t spend any energy fighting it, use all of your energy making yourself produce quickly, right now.

Do you need to do a third?  Go ahead then.

Page one of drawings for sculpture, 2014 (Technically, thumbnail sketches)

Be conscious of where your ideas are going.  Have you discovered an idea that interests you?  If so, do your next idea generation drawing based on exploring that one idea.  See where it goes.  16 versions of an idea borders on an in-depth exploration, which can only yield well founded results.  Not only are you starting again in the studio, but you are building quality into your new artworks by exploring ideas this way.

Page two, drawings for sculpture

Do not give up—you will not fail if you do not quit.  Do you see any marks that are compelling, independent of an “idea”?  Maybe that’s the idea to pursue…be flexible at this point.  You are casting a lot of seeds out there and something is going to take root.

This is the equivalent of a “Free Writing” exercise for writers.  Getting the creative juices flowing is the main point, but you WILL hit an idea that is very interesting using this technique.  Look for that one tiny drawing with the je ne sais qua worth pursuing as a work in its own right. 

How about taking a photo of it and projecting it to scale it up?

There are multiple benefits to this exercise.  You’ll unearth ideas, explore and develop them; you’ll find surprise sections that stand on their own as images, you’ll develop diptychs or triptychs, even book sequences; not to mention how this process enables working in a series.  This is a fruitful approach as a general studio practice as well as for beginning new artworks.

Page three.

I fully encourage you to engage with this exercise.  Do you have a friend who might join you?  Sometimes it is easier to see how the process works when you look at someone else’s efforts.

Idea generation drawing is a valuable skill to acquire and serves well in the lifelong pursuit of art.  You can go through dozens of ideas quickly, arriving at images which are already proven worthy of pursuit.  It will increase your chances for success and a lot of new artwork.

Go get ‘em!

One of three sculptures based on above drawings, James Thatcher  ©  2014

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