Saturday, May 5, 2012

"Simple" (sold)




















(sold)


"Keep life simple to avoid unnecessary complications." I had one very insightful teacher who encouraged the class to keep our design simple because things always tend to get more complicated. If you start complicated, there is no where to go and then everything falls apart. It's called visual overload in art and stress in real life.

Simplicity in art work has everything to do with keeping the main thing, the main thing. I see a tendency in myself and in students who so want to include something very precious in a piece and yet the addition of this precious thing is simply too much.

The mark of maturity and the essence of editing is to keep it simple. It will definitely get more complicated as you go along. It is wonderful to incorporate techniques that allow you to get rid of an unwanted element if you all of a sudden find yourself in visual overload.

The technique I used in this piece allowed me to write the word simple over the script and still be able to wash it off if a letter didn't look right...or be able to make the decision to exclude it altogether. After the script was written, I sprayed the lettering with Krylon Spray Acrylic Coating and dried it with a hair dryer. A couple of brush strokes of gel matte medium ((2) parts water to (1) part medium) allowed me to write to my heart's content without disturbing the lettering underneath. So technique does really matter and more expressive pieces can be designed with a fair amount of technique under your belt. And that's just another thing to try or think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

1 comment:

  1. Bravo for "Simple" ~ I love your lettering!

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