Abstracts

I have other new sketches and painting to post... maybe later, but one thing I've been playing with for the past month is 'masa', or rice paper.  On one of the art forums I frequent, there are monthly project and idea kickers, and this one intrigued me enough to give it a go.

First step was to order the paper.  Ten sheets of masa from Dick Blick for a very reasonable price, and I was surprised to find that each sheet was 22"x30"!  Woo hoo!  I have enough to do some serious play.

The idea here is to use the natural fiberous nature of the paper to do some abstract work.  For this first one I crumpled the paper (about 5"x7") and soaked it in water.  Then I dropped in some ink (Noodler's Red-Black) which feathered nicely.  While the paper was still wet I touched some watercolor pigments onto the paper.  At the end, I decided that I liked it best standing up on end.

Next up, same basic idea, but I used a few different tools to make marks.  Again, ink and watercolor, but this time I added some spatters of irridescent medium to the page.

 

For the third one, I pre-painted the paper with streaks of color, then dropped in a bunch of ink.  You'll notice that the inks I've been using are not waterproof, so they react beautifully on the wet paper.

On the next three, I did the crumple and soak to the paper, but then added some origami-style folding (cone and fan folds) before dropping in - yep, more ink and watercolor.

I picked up some india ink, to see what would happen if I used permanent, waterproof ink to start with.  We'll see what happens.

Three Sketches from Shenandoah National Park

Last weekend I spent four days in the Blue Ridge Mountains, camping and hiking. Three of those days I took photos, the fourth I relaxed around the cabin and sketched en plein aire.

Here's a pen and ink wash drawing of Range View Cabin. The perspective looks a little funky, but it's not as off as it looks, which was one reason why I chose this particular angle to sketch from.

This was done using a brush pen and waterbrush. The view is the start of the trail that leads from the cabin back to the Appalachian Trail.

Straight watercolor sketch of a pair of interesting trees that were on the path to the cabin privy.

Inspirations: Tarot for Writers

I mentioned here that I use the Deviant Moon tarot deck for inspiration when writing stories. I also mentioned a book titled Tarot for Writers that was on my wish list.

I did recently pick it up and though I still have no desire to start telling fortunes, I am finding it fascinating reading. It does veer into the spiritual here and there, but for the most part it's a straightforward explanation of what each card traditionally means and includes a detailed description of the incredible amount of symbolism present in each card's rendering. There are short suggestions on things to write about based on each card, and they're not necessarily obvious and trivial.

There's also several sections on various other ways to use the deck to kick-start your creativity, from character generation to plotting.

All in all, it's well worth the money, even if you only write for fun or for yourself.

Inspirations: Deviant Moon Tarot

You heard that right, I sometimes use a tarot card deck for story inspiration. I don't do readings or anything like that, more like I select a card at random and pick something from that card to kick start my muse.

To that end, I picked up a copy of the Deviant Moon deck from Amazon. Unlike the ubiquitous and familiar Rider/Waite deck imagery, the DM cards don't invoke a desire to devine my life, but to tell a tale. What strikes me in reflection is how that feeling was with me, instantly and with strength, it's almost enough to make me wonder...

I went through a fair amount of research on tarot decks before deciding on one, and a website that I found very helpful was JanetBoyer.com. Her review section on dozens of different decks was illuminating, although to be honest I was less concerned with the reading potential of a deck than the illustrations, and her inclusion of a large number of sample cards from each deck (at a size large enough to be useful) was most appreciated. There are several more decks I may pick up in the future.

Amazon also has a book for writers seeking inspiration from the Tarot. I don't own it, but it's on my wish list.

This is the first in a series I'm going to call "Inspirations". It'll be about techniques and things I use to get into a creative frame of mind. Don't expect life-altering concepts here, more like little tricks you may not have considered in your own life. If you have favorite ways of your own, leave 'em in the comments. Thanks.