The week before Thanksgiving I worked at least fifteen hours on an abstract design for a commission, and I must say, it was really looking crappy! So bad in fact, I took it off the design wall, stuck it in a drawer, and refuse to post any photos.
But the urge to play with abstract design remains strong, and so here are some other experiments on my design wall. Should I sew them together? I notice in the photo that the block design is much more dynamic if I crop it so that the blocks do not form perfectly to the border. Interesting lesson....
After my failed design attempt, I was so mad at myself I saw red -- literally. I threw this composition together in a couple of hours and it relieved some of my stress, but it looks like something someone else would do, so I don't know whether it's worth the time to finish it.
This composition is very small, but I like it for some reason. Mainly an accident it is. But
Gabrielle's got me thinking about doing small works -- why do them? Why not. I guess for me the question is also, should I resist these urges to attempt abstract work and continue on a series of narrative pieces that I've been doing? Or should I keep exploring ideas I have for abstract patterns. I see them in my mind's eye, but can't seem to get them down in drawing much less fabric....
8 Comments:
If you really have the urge to explore abstract work, why shouldn't you continue? Reading "urge" as something internal that is instigating or impelling you, rather than just "how about trying abstract work?" Even if the narrative pieces remain your major push (and everyone loves Pamdora), maybe something about the abstract will satisfy something internal or find a place in future work or give you a new vision for something else that you are working on.
Maybe you have an inner vision that your abstracts don't live up to, but not knowing what your vision is, I think they look good. I absolutely, HATE doing commissions so good luck on yours. My inner vision never matches the clients inner vision!
And you can do more than one series. If you get bored with Pamdora, put her aside for awhile and do abstract; you get bored with abstract, go back to Pamdora. Or start series #3.
Pam, follow your heart...that cliche aside. It never hurts to work on somthing new for awhile and then come back fresh to your original imagery or move on to new imagery. You have been watching my feeble abstract attempts on the blog...often downright ugly...but kept pushing through until I hit the sweet spot. I say go for it but you like working larger so do them in a format that is comfortable so you won't be totally all at sea.
the big pink dot could be any size--3 inches to 3 feet. Why limit the size? Abstract can be large.
I hear ya about the self-doubt and second guessing, but I always love, love, love seeing your work, even (or maybe especially) all the experiments. Yummy.
I also appreciated your comment about finding out how cropping the circle design makes it look more dynamic. Reminds me of some design/photo quote about the most interesting things happening when the design/composition interacts with the edge.
--erthsister
I think abstraction is great for getting ideas for other things! I hope you continue to explore it!
Sometimes I have art ideas, and don't even want to do much of a drawing before. Seeing the basic design lines are all I put in my sketch book now a days. I don't put a frame/box around the design lines either. This seems to promote various edge opportunities. Returning to the design lines, long after the original memory has escaped, offers up new possibilities. Some will keep giving for years.
'accidents' can be a a rich source of inspiration for ongoing exploration. I suggest concentrating on the concept of 'pattern' rather than that of abstraction and you might find it easier to 'get them down in drawing' ... and I love the way you share how you are tossing up between options, mentally processing stuff - almost being in a critique group, although of course you don't know who else is in the group at any one time.
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