A Sunset Art Revolution
I'm delighted to share with you four new sunset art panoramas created using monotype printmaking. If you saw my previous post "Rear View Mirror", you'll know that my working method is undergoing a mini-revolution. After 20 years of building up layers of colour from light to dark, I'm now experimenting with working dark to light.
In the video you can see some highlights of the creative process. You may be wondering, what difference does it make to the finished result? There are a number of ways the dark to light method is working well: for the skies, it gives a delicacy of mark; more subtle areas of ink are absorbed into the fresh paper surface.
It also means I can use more oily ink which wipes easily so is more responsive negative mark-making. Finally, the over-printing with translucent layers of ink gives a glowing sense of light. Sometimes when you mix a lot of white with your ink, it can look flatter and less vibrant. Also, white pigment is quite heavy and harder to wipe.
What this all means for the image is that it's more expressive and captures a greater sense of natural light, rather like watercolour. This works really well for creating expressive skies which, as you know, is one of the main subjects of my work.
Experimenting and making changes has breathed fresh life into my artistic practice. I feel energised and excited when I'm working in a new way that has a feel-good factor. When you repeat the same process many times, you can start to lose the energy that it used to bring.
Whilst I've been creating these pieces I've been listening to the audio book by Rick Rubin "The Creative Act: A Way of Being" He's a well-known record producer who has distilled a lifetime's experience of the creative process into this book, which is relevant to creative people in all sectors. I'm still absorbing it but have found many insights that really strike a chord with my own artistic experience.
Here's a quote from the book - one of many I could've chosen:
“All art is a work in progress. It’s helpful to see the piece we’re working on as an experiment. One in which we can’t predict the outcome. Whatever the result, we will receive useful information that will benefit the next experiment. If you start from the position that there is no right or wrong, no good or bad, and creativity is just free play with no rules, it’s easier to submerge yourself joyfully in the process of making things. We’re not playing to win, we’re playing to play. And ultimately, playing is fun. Perfectionism gets in the way of fun. A more skillful goal might be to find comfort in the process. To make and put out successive works with ease.”
Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being
This quote really connects to my own experience that playing and experimenting is fun, exciting and the energy from this can drive the whole creative process along. Conversely, when you are repeating the same process over and over, the energy drains out of it and it becomes more like work. Sometimes it's necessary to do that to fulfill your obligations and earn a living but it feels more like the work of an artisan than an artist.
With these new monotypes, I feel I have made a big stride forward in a new direction. Now you might be thinking that tree lines with sunsets are my stock in trade, and you'd be right! But I deliberately chose a subject and composition that I was very familiar with to facilitate the new process.
I tried more different and complicated compositions but it was just too much all at once - I couldn't get a handle on it. By paring it back to the most simple composition I know, I found a way forward and now have a basis on which to build greater complexity and variation. So, watch this space to see how my work develops!
These original monotypes are now available for sale. Please get in touch by phone on +447717 256169, text or email info@rebecca-vincent.co.uk to reserve a piece and chat about framing options. Unmounted work can be sent to USA, Canada, Europe and Australia. Please get in touch for a shipping quote.
I'd love to hear your feedback about this new work and your own insights into the creative process. You can leave a comment below. If you liked these originals you may find this giclee print of interest:
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