Wasting art supplies 1
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In last Wednesday’s post, I offered a lesson on wasting art supplies, i.e., getting over the fear and shame both of failing and of wasting precious and perhaps expensive supplies. The holidays being what they are, plus a daughter-in-law gaining her PhD — congratulations, Dr. Kristin! — I have not had as much time to follow my own advice as I would have liked.
However, over the last couple of days I have gotten some work done, and here’s my report.
First off, I’d like to commend my last-week self for a very good lesson. For those too lazy to click on the link, here are the salient points:
You’re going to create trash, utter failures. (ABORTIVE ATTEMPTS)
Devolve your materials: use cardboard, envelopes, cheap dollar store markers, etc. (Also, confront your hoarding tendencies and use some of that stuff.)
Set some intentions about what it is you’re going to explore: subject matter, techniques, etc. If you have a specific inspiration, put a copy in front of you. (STEAL FROM THE BEST)
Set a timer. Use the Pomodoro method. (RITUAL)
Realize that some of the crap you created is pretty successful.
Feel smug. Publicize this website. Buy copies of the book for your friends.
My devolved materials included printouts of vintage engravings, of which I have multiple collections both in graphics files and old print volumes; old books/encyclopedias; cardboard rescued from the recycling bin. (Images like these can be found for free online, especially at places like Public Domain Review.)
Random vintage engravings I found saved in a folder called “DALE’S IDIOT ART CHALLENGE,” the reason for which I have no recollection.
Cardboard from the trash. The handmade leather notebook is a gift from Backstreet and is not part of this project.
You may recall that my main goal was to figure out a creative use for the beaucoups of translucent marker paper that had been donated to Backstreet Arts. With that in mind, I trimmed a printout of an orrery…
…cut pieces of marker paper, and got to tracing.
The results were astoundingly bad.
This is possibly because I failed to establish any kind of intentions or goal (Step 3). I set that particular ABORTIVE ATTEMPT to the side and started over. Since I had all these images, I decided to go with collage.
The results were more encouraging.
I’m still thinking about painting lines between the hand and some of the squares, or perhaps using some of the colored wire I have on hand, but there is part of me that likes the tension of the viewer wanting lines connecting the squares but only seeing them in their head.
The torn strip inspired me, along with one of the cat food boxes, so I futzed around the materials and ended up with…
I can see this piece giving the curators of my retrospective fits.
That’s all I’ve gotten done so far. As I said, unencumbered stretches of uninterrupted time are hard to come by in the holidays. I’m still working, though:
One of those new “eco-friendly(er)” bags from Amazon, split open.
More later. If you’ve tried the Wasting Supplies Lesson, I’d love to see some of your results. In fact, I think it would be great to see your worst work — we could have a competition for most/worst dreck.
