"Knowing and Doing"

(unavailable)

"Doing comes before knowing." I still find myself and others thinking we can know something before doing it. More often than not, I may not be thinking I am trying something and expecting to know it before doing it, but it seems to sneak up on me. Practicing and doing are mandatory before knowing anything.

It is always a good thing to experiment and see where the experimentation takes you. But even when experimenting with new things, there are stubborn facts that will stop you in your tracks. Those stubborn facts are the elements and principles of design. Things work or don't work for a reason. It can be terribly frustrating and liberating at the same time.

One item in your studio will help you more than any other. That one item is removable tape. If you are in a quandary about where an element of your design should go, tape it in the place that seems the most logical and then look at it from across the room. Then try taping it in several other places and compare. If it doesn't look good anywhere, then it probably doesn't belong on that particular piece.

Save yourself some heart aches and head aches by making a quick decision to exclude that element and move on to what does work. It's the constant indecision that hangs up a lot of artists. I can tell you from experience that placing a time limit on yourself will assist you in making those kind of decisions quickly...i.e....working on your work every day, even when you don't feel like it.

Fear and your internal critic are getting some of you "hamstrung". I know that because I've watched you work through your process in some of my classes. If you go through all of the elements and principles of design as you look at your piece and ask a few questions. you will soon figure out the problem. Let me help you out a bit. Color values are the "sneakiest" of all of the elements of design that you will most likely overlook, so check that out first. Make a black and white c opy of your entire piece or just a portion (if it's too large) and you will know right away if you have a value issue. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Agony and Ecstasy"

($40.00......5" x 5"......mounted on a 3/4" depth clayboard)

"Learning a new process falls somewhere between agony and ecstasy." It takes grit and determination to push through the learning curve of a new process. The only way to fail is to quit.

This pouring medium piece looks like the "agony and the ecstasy" with the extreme rise and fall of the color. The iron work in the background is symbolic of the idea of pressing on.

Journals are very popular these days so here is a new thing to journal...especially if you are just learning a new medium in the arts. Try writing down just ONE thing each day that you've learned or realized from your own experience with this new "process" that feels like trying to hold jello. And if you can't think of anything, just write down one thing to focus on for that day. In one month's time, you will be amazed at how much you've noticed and learned and that particular skill or way of seeing will become part of the way you work.

For instance, the ironwork in this piece stabilizes the piece and it gives depth because it was collaged in such a way as to appear like it is behind the moving color. The principle: any image placed behind something else that appears and disappears creates depth. Write it down as something to remember. It is one way to connect disparate parts and create depth.

Most of all, embrace any failures as a hugh learning opportunity and grapple with it until you know why it didnn't work. When you answer that question, you have made more progress than if everything worked out perfectly. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Welcome Mat" (sold)

(sold)

"Early morning prayers and a cup of coffee are like a welcome mat in front of a new day." The most blessed part of my day and life is when I am praying. A cup of coffee wakes me up physically, but prayer wakes me up spiritually. It's a good thought as you begin your day.

In early postings, I've gone on and on about the elements and principles of design. These stubborn principles wrap themselves around visual communication like a blanket. Whether you are conscious of them or not, they're always operative.

One of the more subtle principles of design is "gradation". It is what I call the "crescendo" and "decrescendo" of design. These are music terms which mean to gradually get louder or gradually get softer. In the visual world, the application operates with any of the elements of design. For instance, color can be very intense and then gradually fade into another color or into gray or white. You can see it very clearly in this piece as the green fades out into the cream color. The same "fading out" can happen with gray values, line work, size, and texture. As always, too much gradation (which includes very diffused edges) needs the contrast of hard lines. You can see that here with the image, the lettering, and the thicker applications of gesso, as well as the pencil lines in the first layer.

All of this is analyzation to the "hilt, but it really isn't a bad thing to analyze what is going on in a piece of art. If you cannot identify what you've done "accidentally" you cannot readily repeat the process. Putting a name to what you're doing will definitely help to add new techniques to your repertoire. Just something to think about.

"A Silver Lining" ($40.00)

(adjusted price....$40.00)

"Behind every dark spot is a silver lining and a bright color." This is a "take off" on a very familiar quote with a contemporary twist. Life can throw a few curve balls at us, but keeping a positive faith and attitude is the way to see the silver lining and bright color in every situation.

There are always reasons why some pieces work and others don't. That is a true statement even taking into consideration that some people like contemporary art work and others prefer super realism. The same design principles are at work in either case.

The principles of design can be boiled down to two very key factors. One is harmony and the other is contrast. In order to show harmony with all of your design elements, there must be one characteristic of each element dominating. For instance, in this piece, there is a dominance of curved lines. That one fact alone determined my decision to make the lettering straight rather than follow the curve of the color. In doing that, a contrast was created with the element of line. The same is true for the purplish gray color that also bleeds into the white areas. It takes up more space than the green color, creating harmony. But the green is also a split complement of the purple, creating a contrast. And on it goes.

However simplistic this may sound, I still see and even experience in my own artwork, times when I can't seem to think of all these things at once. Sometimes, it's intuitive, but not always. It's in the "not always" times that it is prudent to actually analyze what's going on with each design element. Just a few minor changes will help to make the piece go from "ho hum" to "wow".

Design language is the vocabulary of the visual artist. It is definitely something that needs careful attention. Just something to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Simplicity" ($40.00)

(adjusted price.....$40.00)


"Good design favors simplicity." In my own life, I tend to get bogged down in endless detail. So once again, a principle that applies in art also applies in daily life. Deleting unnecessary things and details is the path to freedom through simplicity. It also keeps your house clean!

Most important things are not completely learned in the first go around. That's why going back to the basics is always a good thing to do. It also develops your aesthetic. I have found this to be especially true in the area of design. Even though I can rattle off the elements and principles of design, I keep learning more about it as I blog every day. Most of the oil painters and instructors in oils suggest that you really cannot make great progress until you've completed at least (100) small paintings. It is only when these (100) are done, that real progress begins.

Having said that, I am close to having completed (200) small paintings on this blog and I am still stunned at how much I keep learning about design. So today I want to list the principles of design. Look at design as though you are making a cake. The elements of design (from yesterday's posting) are the ingredients for the cake. The principles of design tell you how to mix the ingredients and bake the cake....or artwork. Unity is a sense of oneness. Dominance is one characteristic of a design element dominating. Contrast is the opposite characteristic of a design element. Balance can be symmetrical or asymmetrical. Gradation is one element going from large to small...small to large...light to dark or dark to light. Repetition is repeating any of the design elements. Alternation is alternating any of the design elements.

It sounds simple, but in the beginning, it can seem overly complex. The only way to become adept is to create artwork..and lots of it and analyze your work to see what you did with each design element. It will eventually become intuitive.  Hence, one of my reasons for blogging. Just something to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.