In my quest to find form within the abstract art of acrylic pouring, I stumbled onto artist Jackie Peach. I loved how her paintings were created through pouring paint and yet held a distinct image. Just like me, Jackie Peach began art after being propelled into business school because people need “sensible” careers. And then, just like me, life caught up really fast and she had to put her dreams on hold. Anyway, she got back on track and I can relate to that and find that really inspirational. Another thing that is really interesting is where she gets her …
Category: Blog
The Other Story Project — Illustrated
The Other Story Project, mentioned in one of the previous blog posts, is a public art project I’ve been following for quite some time. I guess it is exactly my idea of using various forms of art and community involvement to build a cultural narrative. The Other Story Project often orchestrates a collaboration with artists to create a version called “The Other Story Project–Illustrated”. In January they reached out to me to join the team of artists illustrating one story each for the month of February. This is the story I was given (originally in Arabic, below is a close …
Just a thought — WIP
So here’s the thing. Creating art is a multi-step process. First, you have to stop imagining and start doing. You have to scale that wall of fear that exists between the perfect piece in your mind, versus the piece (often beyond control) that will appear on the canvas. Then, when you’ve gotten your material and your fear in hand, you need to demonstrate some patience. Yes, you have this urge to see how the final piece will look, but you know that the look you want can not be achieved until you wait for certain layers to dry. Finally, you …
Artist Case Study 2: Kwang Ho Shin
I begin by mentioning again one of the things that emerged as I experimented with pouring paint: influencing the paint. Jonathan said that a beautiful poured painting is the result of a kind of harmony between the painter and the paint, each anticipating the other’s next move in a beautiful symphony. That is definitely one of the ways in which we can arrive at the kind of painting we imagine. Another way, I discovered, is to use textures (and this is something I have used with inks earlier to make calligraphy paintings). If you create a textured underpainting before pouring …
The Day of Lists
Ah, Jonathan was right! This blog has the ability to just grow and grow in the sneakiest of ways! Like mushrooms! I mean it becomes like a juggling act between doing and writing. The doing comes more naturally and happens faster, leading the writing to lag and become a thing that happens more in the head than on the blog. Until one fine day you have a gigantic list of the writings that need to urgently be completed while the doings keep prodding you and saying, ‘hey focus on us, focus on us’. So, today will be the day of …