I made these drawings last night using pencil, charcoal and oil paint on paper. I tried to make them quickly and resist the urge to overwork them. I’m not sure if they are very successful but working on paper seems to help with the lesson. There were a few which I did overwork which I have not posted here. There is no going back when your working on paper. The freshness of the white sheet is an element which I wished to maintain. Leonardo da Vinci stated that “Art is never finished, only abandoned”. In my case however it is never abandoned, if I’m not happy with it I will keep going until it is another painting entirely. I am learning how to detach myself from my work. The artworks are often better in a more ‘raw’ unfinished state. It is a lot less stressful anyway knowing when to cast something out.
I am sure that this is one of the artworks I will have in my exhibition. I have decided to call it “Hagalaz” after the rune which means hail and rainstorms. In Norse mythology it is linked to the primal forces of the universe and can therefore be unpredictable. It alludes to forces beyond our control. Although tempestuous and possibly negative it represents turmoil that once overcome allows for transformation. I believe that the drip paintings I have been working on represent a stressful time in learning when to let things be. I have tried sometimes to control the uncontrollable. It is crazy how my paintings have had an effect on my mood and I have become quite depressed if I make a mark which I perceive to be unsatisfactory. I believe that through this process I have learnt a valuable lesson in when to step away from a painting and call it finished.
In “The Hidden Order of Art” (1967:5) Anton Ehrenzweig suggests that ” In creativity, outer and inner reality will always be organised together by the same indivisible process. The artist has to face chaos in his work before unconscious scanning brings about the integration of his work as well as of his own personality”.
Marion Milner, in “The suppressed Madness of Sane Men” (1987: 207-215) has pointed out that the erasure of boundaries between inside and out, that is a part of the experience of creating art and of our creative response to it, has something in common with mystical or ecstatic states. If the artwork is perceived to be going badly however in my experience it can induce madness!
I have made new canvases and have begun to paint. This time I am going to resist the urge to over paint the canvases and keep them more minimal. I want to keep the space and leave the pencil markings visible. I want to record my first emotional reactions of the day without over layering it with consecutive emotional states from following moments.
In “The Hidden Order of Art” (1967:21) Anton Ehrenzweig states that “nothing can be deemed insignificant or accidental in a product of the human spirit. and…superficially insignificant or accidental looking detail may well carry the most important unconscious symbolism”. It is interesting that I think this painting expresses my feelings very well. I had not slept well the night before, I will not go into the details but I am going to call this piece “Reconciliation at 4am”.
It’s nearing the time of our degree show and so we will have to repaint all the walls and floors. I feel almost sad that I will have to hide the splats of paint I’ve made on the floor in the process of creating my work. I think they tell a story and are almost an artwork in themselves. There is special quality to accidental markings.
This painting is finished, I used more oil paint, then applied some water based emulsion thinking it was gloss, this is obviously not a good combination so I washed it off with water. I think the accidental smudgyness which has resulted is quite successful. In “Prehistoric art” (1998:xiii), Paul G Bahn states that art is a “deliberate communication through visual form….. an expression of group mentality and of an artists inner world”. I agree that art is an expression of an artists inner world and that it is a deliberate communication, however the method can be quite intuitive and accidental.
In “Psychological Aesthetics” (2001:8), David Maclagan suggests that as well as the the artists psychological experience being translated into paint, “the actual aesthetic features of a painting, such as its pressure of line, density of colour, coherence or incoherence of form- have their own independent psychological contribution to make”. He states that a painting can become the “arena for an exchange between the supposedly subjective dimension of the spectators experience and the works actual external features. The exchange is a reciprocal one where each is modified by the other” (Maclagan 2001:11). Therefore if a viewer is willing to enter into the painting they may be able to experience what the artist was trying to communicate whether this was a concious message or an unconscious one, or they may be influenced in a different way due to their own experience and reaction to the aesthetic elements of the painting.
I am going to call this painting “Laguz” which is the name of a rune meaning “Water”. Water is the symbol of the unconscious and invisible life forces. All of life is dependent on water, and therefore Laguz represents the universal ocean, the supreme unity of all life: past, present and future. The substance of Laguz is everywhere present, pervades all things and underlies all manifestation. It is the living energy out of which everything is made. It sustains and enriches any idea that is projected into it.
