Embodying Abandon

with the help of a movie icon and the seacoast

It seems that after I have finished a painting and digested the experience, I piece together what happened in my creative process and what came into play as I worked on the canvas.

One thing I have learned about myself is that the creative process for me involves a lot of mood boards, bulletin boards, and found imagery.

A while back, Michael installed a large section of gypsum board on the wall, and I painted it white. Nothing like living with an experienced carpenter and construction worker to help enhance your working area! 

It's a big wall in my studio where I can pin things up and move items around. It's tucked over by the window, so it doesn't sit in front of me all the time. I move things around on it periodically, and mostly these "things I am drawn to" just sit in the back of my mind. It is a big puzzle of my own making. 

I used to look at the images and try to "make sense" of what I had pinned up. But trying to "make sense" of something in my creative process never works out for me. I knew this from experience. After all, it wasn't a therapy session. So instead, I let the puzzle take on its own life. I lightened up and just stayed curious.

I realized that the imagery on my bulletin board was reaching across the room and asking something of me. Specific images I couldn't let go of. Every time I removed and rearranged them, they were always there. Liz Taylor was one of those images.

Finally, I pulled this image of Liz off the board, moved it to my painting area, and wrote on an index card, "Why are you here?" "What are you saying to me?"

Immediately the words RELAXED ABANDON came to me.

I jotted them down and sunk into these words. That's how I wanted the work to feel. Just look at this image. Italy, sunshine, and so carefree, complete ease and no self-consciousness. Could a work embody this? There was undoubtedly a sex appeal in this image, but instead of turning his gaze toward the movie star, the old gentleman in the background painting made the picture appeal to me. I liked that they were together and relaxed in the frame. 

I had been toying with the idea of reining in my usual color palette and employing complementary colors, specifically "dirty compliments," as I once heard the term phrased. It's something John Singer Sargent used regularly. For example, if a bright purple is used, then a dirty yellow is used in the artwork to offset the palette in a balanced way. You can see Joan Mitchell use it as well when she used almost neon yellows in her paintings. 

So I taped up the words "Relaxed Abandon" and the snapshot of Liz in the Italian sun and went to work. 

These two paintings were the result. The works edge out of the frame. This was the beginning of me using thinner, more carefree drawing marks to communicate, which is a practice I have wholeheartedly embraced now. 

Abandon

Together

Whenever I find myself a bit lost in a painting, I step back now and find the words I want to infuse into the work, and if I am at a loss for words, I scour my images for the right candid shot to nudge myself along. Adding this element of humanity to my work to life infuses it with passion.

Of course, adding the glamour of a movie star and the beach doesn’t hurt either ;).

Close-ups

You can find these two peices here.