Paper and Threads

Visual Exercise 4:  An Exercise in Mark Making  From: Dunnewald et al.  Finding Your Own Visual Language

This is a "freewheeling" exercise done by "marking" (doodling) an entire page until full, completing 6-10 pages of marks.  I did suggestions #3 and 7 - using different tools and different paints/inks.  The end of May and most of June were so busy that I didn't post any of these doodles and I haven't even thought about exercise 5.

I'm not sure how interesting these marks/doodles are to anyone but me - but I am fascinated with the use of my wide parallel pen which is one of the last pages of doodles that I did (see below).  I'm not a doodler so filling this many pages with random marks was a fun exercise. 

1.  PENTEL POCKET BRUSH PEN

2.  OSMIROID CALLIGRAPHY PEN

3.  TOMBOW MARKER - BRUSH AND FELT TIP

4. RIGGER BRUSH AND WATERCOLOR

5. WIDE PARALLEL PEN

6.  BAMBOO PEN, DIP PEN WITH 2 NIBS, RULING PEN

Observations:

I prefer geometric rather than organic/amorphous shapes 

A Rigger brush can be very accurate for drawing lines and making marks.

A wide parallel pen is an amazing tool for doodling - very dramatic and interesting shapes emerge!  I wonder if a narrower parallel pen would give me the variation in line that I'd like with figure drawing?  Seems like an experiment worth doing!

Posted by Shirley at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Exercise 2 (Continued):  I made it!  I made 30 1" stamps based on a square - stretching my imagination to finish exercise 2 when I when was in doubt.  I don't work in series and I'm not a doodler - so this made me happy.  I'm afraid I might bore you posting the remaining stamps, but perhaps you can find an image you like, or be motivated to try the exercise yourself.

I switched from Speedy Carv to Moo Carve right before Stamp #25.  It is much softer and I had to master the pressure needed to carve smooth lines all over again.  Both of them are great for carving stamps and each had a learning curve for me.

Exercise 3:  The instructions said to trace the black cut images from exercise 1 and in the process to convert them to line drawings.  My black images were all squares, so I wasn't sure this would be very interesting.  And I also didn't want to trace when I can always use drawing practice, so I selected a few stamps and made a line drawing of the image.  Some of them are the result of putting my 1" stamp together many times to create another image. 

Posted by Shirley at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I'm still working on Exercise 2 from the Visual Language book pictured below.  It is an out of print book that I bought on Amazon.  In this exercise I need to take the square I "fractured" in exercise 1 and create one square stamp each day for 30 days.

I think that these exercises are fun and important for abstract art - including collage and surface design on fabric.  I still worry that I won't be able to create another 1" square stamp, but as I work I find all new variations.  I rarely work in a series, but marvel at the creative benefits.  This is an open-ended project for me, and I will periodically post the exercises I'm doing.  Posting the exercises is as much for me as readers, to keep me inspired and on track.

 Here are stamps #7- 18

I definitely feel more comfortable carving the stamps with Speedball Cutting Tools and Speedy Carve.  You can see the first Exercise and the initial 6 stamps from Exercise 2 in this blog category http://www.paperandthreads.com/2013/03/another_project_begins_1.php

Posted by Shirley at 2:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I periodically work through a series of exercises in a book.  This process is important to me as I explore new techniques or refine skills.  In December I saw a new, exciting book mentioned on Beth Berman's blog: Finding Your Own Visual Language by Dunnewald, Benn, and Morgan.  Although I draw and paint on paper, I also make stamps and stencils to use on paper or fabric and love using corn dextrin and soy wax resist with procion MX dyes to make fabrics for my projects.

Jane Dunnewold was the Chair of the Suface Design Studio at Southwest Craft Center in San Antonio Tx when I took my first fabric dying class and a silk painting class in the early 90s.  I love her fabrics and devoured her books Complex Cloth and Art Cloth.  That made this book even more appealing. 

There are 16 Visual Exercises in the first section of the book, and I am currently working on Exercise 2. 

In Exercise 1 - Splitting Shapes, I selected a square as my shape and made many 1.5" squares from black paper.  Each square was cut into at least 3 pieces and then reassembled as a square and glued in place.  I made 8 and then just kept going to do another 8.  Here are my two pages of "fractured squares."

Exercise #2 is 30 Days of Cutting Stamps.  I make stamps from fun foam, even complex ones to create multicolored images.  But I have no experience carving stamps, so I plan to use Speedy-Carve and Moo Carve and my Speedball Lino Cutter Assortment for this exercise.  I can cut my 4 X 6 X 0.25" Speedy-Carve into 24 1X1" pieces and then make 6 slightly bigger stamps with Moo Carve to complete the series.  I also work in sketchbooks that are 8 X 8 max, so little stamps work better for me.

I don't have a black stamp pad - so these images were made with Staz-On and Colorbox pads.  I feel more confident about the carving lines with each one.  This is good practice!

Posted by Shirley at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)