On a Whim

Right now, I am lucky enough to have two studio spaces in our house.  On the main floor is the studio I have used for over 13 years.  It contains most of my art supplies, my computer and my easel.  On the lower level, taking up the space where my husband’s pool table used to be, is my print studio.  I have several tables to lay things out on as they dry.  My Cricut cutting machine and gel plates are there as are the Golden Open acrylics I use to make my gel prints. Plus, many stencils and stamps I have created and things I have found to make marks with over the past 2 years.

On the way back up the stairs a moment ago, I was thinking how some of the most interesting things I have created were created “on a whim”.  In the midst of doing something I went there to do, I threw something on the plate and pulled a couple of prints just because.  And those prints often become an important element of a new work.

That lead me to think about the past 4 years and how my art has changed so much.  And most of those changes were done by following a fleeting idea. So, I went back through the last 4 Novembers and pulled these out to show you!
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In November 2020 I was known as a landscape artist and painted Twisted View (acrylic on canvas, 24” x 30”):

​I had been experimenting with tangled vegetation and the patterns in them when, in November 2021 I painting Mellow (acrylic on canvas, 16” x 12”):

​Then over the next year I began experimenting with custom made stencils and my gel plate, pursuing the tangled vegetation but combining that with more geometric and man-made elements.  So, in November 2022 I was creating my GeoGanic series of monotypes like No. 10 (acrylic on Dura-lar, 10” x 8”):

​Embracing experimentation has led me to where I am currently, using gel prints as collage elements along with paint to create similar but much more complex mixed media work like Tear Here to Open (mixed media including acrylic and collage on canvas, 18” x 14”):

The quick, simple prints I created this afternoon are for my current work-in-progress. I needed some collage stuff with Ultramarine Blue. Of the 10 prints I pulled, one that I created “just on a whim”, turns out to be the perfect next step for my work. 

I wonder what I will be creating next November!!

I hope you are having as much fun with wherever your journey is taking you as I am!
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Happy creating!