DAY #252- DEVELOPING THE CONCEPT

Sorry, nothing visually impressive today.

Instead, today was a formulating day. I was attempting to develop a concept.

You see, SOUTH COUNTY ART SUPPLY was so helpful in special ordering me this GIANT roll of watercolor paper

It’s like 5 feet x 25 feet.  It’s giant.  It comes in a big roll.

Notice the pencil in the photo above.  It gives you an idea of it’s size. I cut off a piece today that measures 4 feet x 5 feet.

I got this giant paper because I wanted to work large, but when the day came (today), I had no idea what I wanted to do with it.  I just hate that!  So, I sat around doodling and looking at some of my inspiration files… and then I decided I’d kind of go with what I know.

I thought about the concept of attempting many things at once:

ART + SOCIAL LIFE + SOCCER PRACTICE + LAUNDRY + COOKING + CLEANING

Yeah, I ran out of room for sleeping.  Such is my life.

That made me think of that famous Seinfeld episode where they scream “SERENITY NOW!!!”

Hence the Namaste position in the center.

Serenity = Finding peace in an absolutely crazy time in my life

So that’s the concept, but really I am just looking for an excuse to play with pattern and color.

The technical focus of this piece will be to use hand-made stamps and hand-cut stencils and templates.  I like the look of a print but with each area of the painting subject to change, overlapping and interweaving.  If this doesn’t make sense, follow the rest of the week and I’ll show you the ideas I have bundled up in my head.

I began cutting out certain elements today and roughly sketched out the entire woman.  Like the boobs? hee hee hee:)

I then forced my poor daughter to be my reference model.  I needed all different hand & arm positions.

Tomorrow I should be ready to sketch out all the arms and get started on all the different stamps I will need to create for this piece.

You know, for many years I suffered from a serious anxiety disorder.  It crippled my art making.  In fact for almost a decade I didn’t create a thing.

I mention this because my chronic problem would be that I would get an idea, I’d work on it for about a day, I would look at it and think “this is ridiculous” or “why in the hell do you need to put this out into the world”….crazy critical thinking…I’d become paralyzed and walk away…never to complete anything.

Today’s concept is giving me this vibe.  It feels absolutely ridiculous.  I have no idea why a 5 foot homage to my life needs to come into the world.  In fact, it really could be a serious flop.

That is why this 365 is so special to me.  I have created this strict code for my practice.  I can’t say something stinks until I’ve actually accomplished it.  Whenever I hear the domineering negative critic, I sound a bell off in my head that says -JUST DO IT!!!

Even if I fail, I will learn.  The alternative produces nothing.

Producing SOMETHING/ANYTHING is better than nothing. I don’t want to look at another decade of NOTHING.

It’s empty.

So, I shall plug ahead.  I will experiment, I will mess up a bit, I will learn, and at the very least, there will be an “Ah-ha  moment” which will lead me to my next experiment.

Doing what I have already done no longer interests me.  Experimenting with different mediums and concepts will open my mind.  This is what I seek in being creative.

http://www.becreativemary.com

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