Today was more than just a great day. It was terrific! I accomplished so much and it feels great to be that productive. Creatively productive.
I spent the whole day at C.R. Ettinger’s studio in Old City. I managed to work on 4 different etchings and they all came out better than I had hoped. I have been struggling with one of the prints for almost 2 years now, and I think I finally resolved it by making the aquatint a good bit darker. There is one more color trial proof Cindi has to print for me so we can nail the right color. No photo of that one yet–but soon.
Kaleidoscope I and Kaleidoscope II have been through many incarnations and stages, but today’s additional lines etched in KII have added depth and strength to the print. No photo of KII but Kaleidoscope I has 3 new bands of aquatint and the print is completely changed. The whole pattern is stronger and the color-range has been extended. Even though it is a 2-color etching it looks like there are 4 or 5 colors in it. Amazing what a little bit of aquatint can do…
Here is Kaleidoscope I before and after the additional aquatint:
KI–2nd state
KI–3rd state
There is another little print I worked on with tons of cross-hatched lines that is loosely based on some work I saw (amazing stuff) by Gego (Gertrude Goldschmidt) currently on exhibit at The Drawing Center in NYC.
Gego’s art is truly inspired stuff…her hanging sculptures are made of delicate wires that cast intricate shadows on gallery walls. And her drawings make me salivate. No kidding…I really want one of them! Almost as much as I want a print or drawing by Agnes Martin.
Well, I guess my wish list will have to keep growing for now–there’s little chance that a work by Agnes Martin is in my future–or a Gego, for that matter. Thank God there are museums and galleries where I can go to see work by these marvelous artists.
There are wonderful books available about both artists. Check out these titles at Amazon.com for Gego and Agnes Martin.
Content and photos copyright 2007 by Janet Towbin.
Categories: Agnes Martin · C.R. Ettinger Studio · Cindi Ettinger · Gego · Janet Towbin · Kaleidoscope · The Drawing Center · aquatint · artist · artland · create · creativity · drawing · drawings · etching · printmaking · prints
The first step is always the hardest. Whether it is making the first stroke of a brush on an empty canvas or writing the first sentence in a brand new journal. Beginnings are downright difficult. But it is always just a matter of beginning.
An important part of being creative is the ability to edit things down first. There are so many wonderful resources in our world (real and virtual) from which to gain knowledge and inspiration–and hundreds of thousands of creative people to use as role models. This wealth of visual bounty can be overwhelming and daunting to the artist. But it is also cause for celebration.
So how does one begin to make art when there is so much out there that has already been done? With so many choices, where does one start? Clean a space and then go for it. In other words, edit out whatever is extraneous, start simple and build it up as you go. Keep at it. As long as it takes. Or as artist Mary Judge said in a recent lecture (and I am paraphrasing her), “You really only need one idea; you just need to go deep with it.”
For additional insights into how to begin any creative work, I recommend Anne Lamott’s book “Bird by Bird” or Natalie Goldberg’s “Writing Down the Bones.” Both books deal with creativity in a joyful and common-sense manner.
To see some incredible artwork utilizing simple materials and ideas that have been built upon ad infinitum, you might check out Leonardo Drew (love his massive expanses of rust within a wooden grid), Jean Shin (look at the umbrella series and the cut-off pant legs), Tara Donovan (straws and papercup clouds) and Vic Muniz, (especially “pictures from junk” series and the portrait collages made from magazine hole punch dots). Their work always inspires me and sends me over the moon. I love the way they accumulate and build-up simple objects into massively large and complex topographical universes. Begin simple, then move into complexity by adding, building and accumulating. One thing leads to another, and another, and another—and then you have it.
Less may be more, but MORE is certainly a lot more interesting!
Content and photos copyright 2007 by Janet Towbin.
Categories: Anne Lamott · Design · Jean Shin · Leonardo Drew · Mary Judge · Natalie Goldberg · Tara Donovan · artland · build · complex · create · creativity · drawings · inspiration · less is more · mirror · mirrored images · pattern · photocopies · process · simple · topographical universe · vik muniz
