"Orad Sin Cesar" (draft 5)

(draft 5)

The piece is now finished all but the handwritten text. It will be Psalm 55:1. You can see that the largest letters in the piece are an "A" and an "O". It's a reminder that God is the Alpha and Omega....the beginning and the end. All of the bits of gestural mark making and writing are symbolic of the cacophony of voices vying for our attention. But right beside these pieces are selections from the Psalms that give comfort to the soul.

As I recap the techniques used in this piece, I want to throw out some tips for making it successful. The first and most obvious thing is to have a variety of sizes. And if you happen to be using some old artwork cut up and reassembled, you might also want to use some solid colors with bits of texture to break up the monotony and look of contrivance that can result from simply cutting up a piece and reassembling it.  Try to look at one or more of the smaller pieces as a work of art unto itself and yet fitting in with the whole.

In this piece, I made a deliberate choice to group the yellows together, the blues together, and the whites together. By making that decision, a more solid foundation for the piece is laid by having shapes within shapes. Color is a shape maker for sure, so that is an excellent place to begin your concept and shape arranging.

There will also need to be a lot of common denominators throughout the piece that create echoes. For instance, I have used a wide range of blues in different intensities and values, but it works altogether because I have echoes (or repeats) of every single one of those colors interspersed throughout the blue section.

Also notice that the undercoat is not the same in all of the pieces...although the mark making is similar. It's all of these kind of thoughts that lead to a dramatic conclusion. The sky is the limit here, so don't be afraid to try your own version of this and I think you will enjoy the process. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.