3 Month Comparison

Lines!

The self portrait on the left is the first painting where I experimented with strong, sharp lines. I used tape to see what the effect would be. Over the course of three months, my art has slowly (but really quite quickly in the grand scheme of things) morphed into something a bit different - and I like it.

Ninety days isn't really a long time - but when you're an artist striving to have that ah-ha moment, so much can happen.

I felt as though I was getting somewhere when I first started with the tape. It distiguished my art, and I enjoyed the process. However, the extremely rigid stripes weren't conducting enough emotion for me. I found myself adding diagonal lines, then drawing curvy contour lines on top of the stiff images with permanent marker. I was subconsciously pushing my art in a new direction.

But I suppose you could say I was scared. I was scared to take the risk of doing freehand, organic lines... because, well, I thought I had found 'it' - my style, with the tape. And I know, I know, style shouldn't be a counterfit, forced entity, but, does have to be achieved. So, I continued going to the art store and loading up on dozens of tape rolls.

Taping and peeling and taping and peeling, and getting emotionless, rigid pieces... I finally tried freehanding the lines to create a more organic feeling. I started with straight (but freehand) background and foreground lines, then finally I decided to do an entire painting with freehand solid, and curvy, lines.

Well, I couldn't be happier with the outcome. The process was very enjoyable. I have complete control over the piece, and the swooping lines create a lot of engery and emotion in the artwork. The colours are bold and work in harmony.

If this much has changed in only three months, I'm excited to see where the organc lines will go in the months to come.