Saturation Point Reached

I have reached that point again where I have no fuel left in my creative gas tank. I’m running on empty, at least as far as painting is concerned. I had told myself to take a  break last week, of course I did not listen. I attempted two digital paintings, one was ok, the other one not so great — sigh.

Rather than blame my slowdown on myself I choose to blame it on the inner struggle between my drawing artist and my painting artist. For the longest time the two have shared the spotlight, with the painting artist getting the most exposure. 

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Connected Drawings

It appears that the drawing artist has stepped forward and claimed the number one position. This week was all about drawing and inking. As apposed to the painting failures, my drawing escapades were pleasingly satisfying. I had a plan and I stuck to it. 

The plan was to create three “automatic” ink drawings. Each drawing would be the same size. I would do the first image expanding from a single point or mark on the paper. I did not allow myself to do any planning, I just did it! 

The image was to have several “linking” points which would link to the next drawing. Upon completion, I matched the second drawing to these points and proceeded with the same process. 

Once drawing two was complete I moved onto the third. On the third image I made sure to create “linking” points that would link back to image number one.  

Linking the three images this way allows me to create a loop. Image one links to image two, image two links to image three, and image three linking back to image one. If I ever get around to it I could create a looping .gif or perhaps a panning background.

I could also create additional linking images and continue infinitely from either direction, that however is crazy talk!

Of course an easier way to do it would have been to simply do one big drawing and cut it into three. The reason I did it my way was so that each image would be unique yet at the same time integral to the larger composition. 

Yes, I know, I created a triptych which is nothing new, I just chose a somewhat different method. I worked mostly with parallel hatching, which after two to three hours becomes very meditative. Time passes quickly and the soul is calmed.  

This method can create some interesting results, some might call it bizarre or creepy. I enjoyed the process and will “attempt” to do more. I also plan to give digital painting a rest for a week or two — har!

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That’s all for now, have a great week.