"Everyone Likes It" ($40.00)

(adjusted price.....$40.00)

"Jazz music is much like gestural writing...everyones seems to like it, but few can figure out how to do it." Some skills in life look very easy, but in reality they require a lot of observation as well as practice. That's exactly what I thought about gestural and even expressive lettering. It looks like something any person off the street could do.  (Oh, contrare!) I think that is true of many skills in life. For instance, the art of conversation and simply getting along with people in general looks so easy, but it requires a lot of wisdom, self control, and simply looking at things from another person's point of view. Perhaps I can get started on that today because it is one of the most necessary skills in living successfully with others.

This piece was whittled down to some very angular shapes by painting over some areas with black gesso and using a commercial stamp and Speedball Printing Ink to add some interest. Black and white can literally anchor any piece and calm down some of the more chaotic parts. Besides, black and white are two colors that come to mind when thinking of any kind of music. Color alone can inspire thoughts in any area when the associations with that color are present. Everything does not have to be literal in abstract art.

Another thing that came to mind as I started thinking about the lettering is whether or not to follow the lines that were already in the piece or make the lettering straight. And then I remembered a great teacher who said to always make the lettering straight in the design space when there is a lot going on in the background. It works. Viewers can only take in so much detail before they get tired and give up looking. As much as we would all like to write expressively and gesturally to the point that it deteriorates into unreadable text, the average person does not want to stand on their head to try to read the text. I believe that a happy compromise is to be as expressive as you like in the background, but keep the main thing the main thing by making it readable to those who expect to read anything that looks like text. Of course, that's only my opinion. But it is something to stop and think about.


Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.