How to make a Map of Nowhere:
- Set aside all preconceived notions of how the end piece will turn out. I had no idea when I began that I was making a map, let alone a map of nowhere.
- Wet the paper just a little so that whatever you put down will be more predisposed than not to having a will of its own.
- Load your brush up good. Let’s see, today I’ll go mostly ultramarine blue with a smidge of Phatho and some Phathlo green standing in the wings.
- Hold the loaded brush just over the canvas and
- Close your eyes
- Do a this and that quickly on the paper without thinking.
- Open your eyes and see what you see.
- Begin adding little embellishments that seem to suit what you think you saw.
- When you see that it’s not that at all but a map like shape go with that instead.
- At a bird and then some more as a finishing touch that helps say, “map” or “pseudo continent.”
So, tomorrow, I think I will make a small city for my map of nowhere but who knows it might turn out to be a horse or a pot of flowers. We shall see.
{ thrive! }
UPDATE JULY 13 2009 Anna T. of See.Be.Draw made here own Map of Nowhere. Check it out.
 |
Feels very much like somewhere
[Reply]
Somewhere is where the heart is, I suppose, and if true then my heart is definitely “here” in this art world more than in anything else I’ve done. M-m-m so I guess this is really a Map of Somewhere.
[Reply]
The first commenter said it! Yes, it feels very much like a Map of Somewhere - for each of us viewers that Somewhere may be someplace different…
[Reply]
Owen Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Anna, that the metaphorical somewhere can be different according to each persons point of view is a part of the magic in this art-play, I think, and I find it always surprising and rewarding what folks see.
[Reply]
I’m sorry, though I guess I shouldn’t be, I’m honestly trying to be helpful… Owen I just don’t see how these light and colourful indulgencies are a manor for a working artist? It’s true there may be many definitions or descriptions of what an artist is or what they do, especially in our present time…. please take a look at art history, to the works that compel you. There is a clear lesson within the history of art I believe you could discover and bring to your work.
[Reply]
Owen Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:49 pm
carbonform, thanks for your thoughts, really, they always mean so much to me. I have some thoughts on this, not a rebuttal at all but some further thoughts that I’d love to flesh out in a post of their own. Just wanted you to know that I read your comment and am cogitating (if I was bovine I’d be chewing the cud) and will be along with a post sometime soon.
[Reply]
this is wonderful art, owen.
wonderful.
[Reply]
Owen Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Thanks kiddo.
[Reply]