Lots of trick-or-treaters stopped by at Window Studio on Halloween. We had to go out and get more candy at the Family Dollar, and even then ran out, much to the disappointment of late-comers. Since most of the kids who have been coming to the Thursday workshop wanted to be out in their costumes, the classes were quieter than usual. But Jerome spent some time helping carve a pumpkin.
Jerome draws a face to carve on the pumpkin.
Ever since he first stopped in on his way home to his grandmother’s on his scooter, Jerome has been one of Window Studio’s most faithful visitors. Sometime he stays to do artwork, sometimes not, though he is always interested in what I am working on. He was especially pleased that I had finally painted the portrait of him that I’d promised, based on a photo I’d taken one day when he and his friend Taneri came over. He had wanted to look scary, like one of the super hero/super villains that all the boys love to draw.
Now Taneri and his older brother Javon often come with Jerome to the workshop. They are always ready to do “splatter” paintings with bright acrylic paints on canvases that I then use for oil sketch portraits. (Jerome’s portrait is painted on the canvas that he had prepared in this way.) Splatter paintings have been a way to discover shapes that then suggest forms in far more interesting ways than one could have arrived at intentionally. Sort of like watching clouds to see all sorts of forms that come to mind, it has also been fun to compare the different things that each of us sees. One of the boys saw a woman’s torso, while another saw the same shapes as suggesting an old man’s face, and a third saw mountains and trees. We all argued and laughed over which it really was!
Anne, this is great. I love your description of the process involved in splatter paintings. My sons and I were just talking today about some of the paintings they had seen in the Detroit Institute of Arts, and they wanted to know what “the point” was of such paintings.
I read out your post to them just now, and they were struck by your comment about seeing forms into the clouds. In some ways, non-objective art is about the viewer’s mind “painting” the meaning. We seek meaning, or context, or recognizable forms. I think that is why sometimes people come away frustrated or angry when they very abstract art, and it’s understandable.
Very nice job on the portrait, too. Everyone deserves to have art in their personal lives.
Dear Naomi, Thanks for your comment picking up on the “splatter” paintings. Through working with the kids in this way, I have certainly come to appreciate the spirit behind abstraction, particularly Abstract Impressionism, as well as the kinds of experiments that the Surrealists did with “unconscious” painting, dropping paint-soaked strings on paper, etc. Sometimes you just want to fling the paint and let it do the rest!
We do all seem to be hardwired to discover recognizable forms in amorphousness. I also think we have a vast storehouse of images imprinted from observation in our unconscious that we don’t always consciously know how to draw, or at least think we don’t, but we recognize immediately, if by chance we have gotten around this obstacle. I’m a big fan of Betty Edwards’ right brain/left brain approach to understanding the creative process. Though at some point conscious intentionality, and skill is required, even in abstract art, to transform this unconscious materiality into a truly satisfying image, to my mind.
I have also been enjoying your self-portraits – they do capture your sharply penetrating intensity!