How creating art is like life!
Working with the rough paper of Red Playground 8 and 9, I see it as an allegory of my own life.
Click here to read more about how the treatment of the watercolour paper sparked creativity.
Clean and smooth
The paper represents my life.
Originally, clean and smooth, early decisions made on my behalf, along with my own youthful choices, marked the surface of the paper. Not too badly, though.
A bright, lovely future seemed inevitable. Surely, this one is destined to be masterpiece. Perhaps.
Testing and proofing
Just as the paper needed to be treated for the purpose I had in mind. My own ideas, direction, and choices had to be challenged, tested and proofed.
Wetting, folding and staining the paper is likened to consequences of my big choices; university, marriage, babies, multiple cities, divorce, a house fire, re-marriage and moving to a foreign country to blend two families. I certainly felt soaked, folded, and stained, at times.
Beauty, vision, and persevering
Eventually, a beautiful patina formed on the paper. However, I envisaged the works to be even more dramatic. So, I soaked and dyed the paper again. Then, to really give it direction, I deeply dyed the folds of the paper.
In the final working of the paper I flatten the support with a steam iron.
I loved the extreme look so much that I hesitated to add marks to the surface. However, the final vision I have for the works surpass the beauty of the patinated surface. It is up to me bring that vision to fruition in the studio.
Embracing imperfection
I embrace my imperfect life. The events that have forged the patina of my life have helped make me into a better person than I would be, had I not experienced them.
Why I create art
This is why I continue to strive to do that which fulfils my purpose in life. It is why I create art.
To not strive purposefully, I will have wasted all the heartbreak and the beauty that emerged from my past to help the create the present.
Please watch, “How Creating Art is Like Life.”
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How is making art an allegory of your life? Let me know in the comments.
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Is there a better title?
‘Red Playground 8’ and ‘Red Playground 9’ are working titles. I’d appreciate your suggestions for a final title. Post them in the comments below or in the comment section on any of the videos of the series.
