New Work: Right Way Round

Right Way Round
14" x 18" acrylic painted papers on mat board

One idea that I have come to embrace is that no art supply is too precious to use. Everything in my studio is fair game and will eventually get its 15 minutes of fame. The results may not be great but at least I tried and eliminated one possibility. I can then move on to the next question this way and not always wonder if something may have worked or not.

Such was the case with the above piece. I made this one using regular mat board as my substrate. It worked fine and I am in fact thinking of trying some more pieces, maybe larger, on more matboard. The paper is no more warped than other watercolor papers that I have used as substrates. I got super frustrated (again) because some watercolor paper that I had soaked and stretched ripped right down the middle. That led me to trying the mat board. See, anger is beneficial and healthy!

I didn't have too much on my mind for this piece other than some lyrics from a Jackson Browne song referencing the disappearing ozone layer. That's what the yellow and blue shapes are about. But, I liked the idea of a cascade of shapes falling through the piece and so I tried that out with the half circles. When I got to the last shapes I pictured Atlas holding up the world. I ended up liking this piece a lot-maybe not in the same way as some of my others-but still in a good way nonetheless. 

I also bought a new book for myself. It's from Carla Sonheim and is called Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals. I was initially concerned that this was yet another rabbit hole that I was going down. She says though right at the beginning that sometimes the things that you do creatively that don't make much sense eventually end up informing your work in some way. That's reassuring to me so I am going to proceed. (My friend Carol told me essentially the same thing. Two people can't be wrong can they?)

BTW, the title of the piece refers to my idea of how I make art. Does the idea come first and then the art follows or is it visa versa? 

OK, hope everyone is having a nice Friday. Thanks for reading anc commenting.

Libby