This slideshow continues the "drip playing" series...by sharing some more works, which were created as a form of escapism and creativity during the SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19 pandemic. These were created using alcohol inks mostly and a common digital image editing software. These were created on translucent synthetic paper, white synthetic paper, and black cardstock respectively. Even though many of these are abstract, I see these as pseudo-explorations of forms. And there is the interplay between the physical material / analog and digital.
8. Dilution and Concentration
ā¢ A continuation of the exploratory:
ā¢ This work is a continuation of the exploratory in earlier slideshows using both
material (alcohol inks, water paint pens, and both synth and regular
paper)ā¦and some digital applications.
ā¢ I got stocked up on more translucent synthetic paper again.
ā¢ I am seeing what changes when the paper size changes.
ā¢ Partway through the work, my home office scanner started showing
banding again, which was a pretext for trying digital means to apply
transparency patches, burn, spot-heal, and to engage in digital
editing.
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9. Dilution and Concentration (cont.)
ā¢ Many of the paintings start out looking more gloriously and peculiarly
lurid than what happens after the inks and paints dryā¦and then are
scanned.
ā¢ Iām much more comfortable with works going through an āuglyā phase (or
multiple such phases) ā¦ before finalizing to an equilibrium state. (Itās always
easier seeing how others go through this and having confidence that theyāll
pull it outā¦than I feel for myself. The safety net of having paints dry into less
vibranceā¦and having the extra layer of the poor scannerā¦makes it easier to
just go with it. Alcohol inks dry so fast that control is somewhat illusory.)
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10. Dilution and Concentration (cont.)
ā¢ Some lessons Iām working on for myself:
ā¢ I want to know when to stop. There is a point beyond which any additions
start to āmuddyā the work (and the pigment). It is becoming clearer when
sparseness might work better than excess.
ā¢ I am trying to learn about white space and how to use that more effectively.
ā¢ I am seeing how layering of the various inks works.
ā¢ Each work combines feeling and thinking. One without the other does not
fully work.
ā¢ I want to think ahead from the beginning and not just riff the entire time. I
am understanding why some line up their paints and inks, and why they have
a plan for what color goes where early on. But I also want to be able to just
āgo with itā where possible.
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11. Dilution and Concentration (cont.)
ā¢ I am learning how to make a visual that is āof a pieceā without too
much artificiality, where possible. Where this is a real issue is when I
combine various types of inks and paint pens and alcohol markers and
so on.
ā¢ Digital means are sometimes needed to integrate disparate media
(which feels like a ācheatā for the material parts).
ā¢ The power in any creative space is the solving of the constraints.
ā¢ However, visuals are about illusions, so I use what I need to get to what I
want.
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12. Dilution and Concentration (cont.)
ā¢ That said, I still like the āaccidentsā and the roughnessā¦and am leery of too
much digital editing (although quite a few of the digital versions go through
several steps of distortion before converging on a final state).
ā¢ There is a lot to be said for imperfections and seams.
ā¢ There is a lot to be said for serendipitous accidents and āerrorsā.
ā¢ There is a lot about being inchoate. Visuals help fill some of those inarticulable
spaces.
ā¢ Sometimes, experimentation is about a ābrute forceā exploration of every knowable
possibility and mistake.
ā¢ The respective material mediums have āgive.ā
ā¢ The art space is open to interpretation and is relatively āforgivingā in the
informal aspects.
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13. Dilution and Concentration (cont.)
ā¢ Every work is a product of its time. In the present moment, with the
challenges of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, these are a diversion from
work and the stresses of the world. These works offer a way to attain
āsecond windā in difficult moments because of the surprises along the way.
ā¢ These works also initially stemmed from the need to create decorative visuals for an
online academic journal that I co-edit. (Open-shared visuals and clipart only go so
far.)
ā¢ As a writer, I adore words (and concepts and stories)ā¦and I hope some of
that comes through even in the simple word selections.
ā¢ There are some implied little stories (or little states of being) in the visual
labels and related visuals.
ā¢ But please, these are doodles, so donāt read too much into anything.
ā¢ If there is a silly interpretation, go with those.
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14. Dilution and Concentration (cont.)
ā¢ Along the way, I am learning about the materialia and the technologies.
ā¢ Each has various āaffordances and enablements.ā Each has a ānature.ā
ā¢ There is strength in moving along with the nature. There is strength in moving
counter to that nature (to de-nature the medium), to go against the grain.
ā¢ It always seems to be that what I am āpaintingā is to the viewer and how
the human visual system works. It is not really about the visual but the
person.
ā¢ The lessons (for me) are two-fold:
1. Try.
2. Have fun.
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