i had wanted before leaving my studio today to make another creek scroll painting. that's what i'm calling these long narrow (1.35 x 35 cm.) paintings in gouache on japanese paper. i found it years ago at ny central supply. i just tried calling to reorder and there was a voice mail. their 800 number is disconnected, leading me to believe that it's closed. it was an iconic art supply store. the heart & soul was steve, who, last time we saw him was suffering from parkinsons.
so i made the painting you see here. it brings to mind my 10th c. chinese calligrapher buddies. when it comes down to it, i feel them more deeply than any other artists in the entire history of art.
12:38 PM: waiting, waiting on a daily basis for the vision in my right eye to become clear is a bitch, there's no doubt. on the other hand, as with any challenge; mental, physical; psychological.....there is always a hidden opportunity.
in this case, i found myself doing something relatively new. while i have in the recent past done something similar by cutting up calligraphy studies modeled after a 10th c. chinese calligrapher and then reassembling them "out of order," this is different in that i'm taking a colored pencil & gouache drawing which was already conceived as 4 discreet modules, then cutting those in half and rearranging them randomly. the word randomly is key here. unsuspected relationships occur, as with humans, when we shuffle the deck. put a random sampling of personality types together in a room for 12 hours and.....who knows? unexpected collaborations could occur. as could fights, loving relationships, and so on.
that said, here is the result of this morning's experiment. but this is just a fraction of what's possible, any of these 6 components could be turned upside down or re-positioned on the "chess board." the possible variations are not unlimited, but there are quite a few. if you're a math person, figure it out & let me knwo! (joke. i was just re-positioning the letters in the word know.)
previously stable branches are suddenly falling; creek water is flowing up instead of down; a passage you didn't notice gains prominence; a previously invisible suggested animal form appears......
