Saturday, April 9, 2011

A Visual Vocabulary

Composition With Canton,  6X9", Mixed on panel, 4/11

Composition With Arch, 9X6", Mixed on Panel, 4/11

Composition With Tracks, Photograph, 4/11

This was my week last week.  I got all the stuff out--whatever was stowed away--water-based stuff, all compatible.  Put the Bartok on and went at it at long last. These two are a couple simple ones that I will probably not touch again.  In all there are  eighteen new pieces in various stages.

I'm using an untinted acrylic latex paint as a glaze medium, and building complex surfaces with combinations of acrylics, spackling powder, sanded grout, kids tempera paint, Derwent pencils, markers--lots of crazy stuff.  It's all going together and producing some very cool stuff, within thick layers of "glaze", so that some of these pieces are getting downright 3-D. You can see down through all these layers, past splatter, strokes and smears.  What a vocabulary. At some point there will be wax--but not yet.  

The tracks photo above and other snap-shots of really cool stuff just on the pavements around here has been the inspiration for all this.  I have no idea where it will lead, but at least there's new art thinking going on.  Feels healthy! 


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14 comments:

Jane said...

...and it is looking good, I am sure you had a lot of fun. Very creative and interesting.

Jan Yates, SCA, Canada said...

Bill i have to confess i need/want- time to digest and savour your work-and then do it all again-many times. I find myself re-visiting 'Rio, Black Orpheus, Samba Music And Spiritual Revelation' over and over-the image is riveting in so many ways even Without reading your words-but in your honest writings of inspiration and revelation it certainly does take the work to a much more profound level-I think it is one of my favourite works-EXCept i luvluvluv these new ones-for different reasons but i find it so interesting, this continued outpouring and connection in this new work-I especially respond to the middle image-perhaps it has more of an ancient iconic feel for me? i really like to read about your process in the making- pure faith and intuition and RISK-thank you

hw (hallie) farber said...

What a vocabulary is right. What the heck is a Canton? I like the work. Webster was no help unless it's the upper part of a flag. Eighteen new pieces is an amazing number; I look forward to seeing them all and hearing about the new art thinking.

William Cook said...

Hi Jane--Thanks. They really are playful and fun. Each one sort of tells me what it wants. I'm just going along.

Hi Jan--That movie really did have a deep effect on me. I watched it again after I posted that. Incredible! I was listening artistically to some very deep stuff back then, trying to get at something at a soul level. These new pieces are like that in the sense that I'm at least trying to get at some undercurrents that I've ignored for too long. Thanks for noticing the efforts. I think your line about pure faith and risk is interesting--it does seem to fit in a way. We'll see where it goes.

Hi Hallie--You're right about the Canton being a small rectangle up in the corner on a flag. That's the best I could do for a title. I was going to go with, "Toilet Paper With Indigo", but that was edgier than I wanted to be, and I'm not after an NEA grant or anything. I did notice that toilet paper all but disappeared embedded into diluted Elmers glue-all, and that ink applied with a brush to the TP remained intact--plus--it left a slight grainy white haze! Oooo! A few layers of TP and Elmers looks just like quartz. Who knew? Between that and the sanded grout, I'm lovin life. More of them are reaching a finish stage, I'll be posting them. Wm

SamArtDog said...

Funny you were thinking of something as impenetrable as pavement, and then you produced this thick translucency. To me, it looks like bubbles under the ice which, when paired with booms and cracks, tell you you're about to fall in.

William Cook said...

Hi Sam--And I had every intention of sticking with concrete, only due to some unforeseen circumstances, I veered off into translucency. Are we talking visual here or psych--the lines are getting blurred. I say concrete, the painting says Charmen, chairs are thrown, the painting wins. Hey, just trying to keep the peace.

John Brisson said...

I could listen to the music all day long!!!

William Cook said...

Hey John--Yup. Works with painting doesn't it.

Linda Roth said...

And you said you knew little about Zen. With your mindfulness and mindlessness I think maybe you might. Very enthusiastic project. Exhilerating I know. I love the inspirational tire track photo, not the music. Bartok is great for artistic expression, hard to dance to.

William Cook said...

I don't know Linda, Zen seems so complicated in all it's simplicity. I know a Zen guy. They keep smacking him with a stick. The koans are too cryptic. I already know what one hand clapping sounds like--my mother showed me right before she washed my mouth out with soap. I think Curley sums it all up when Moe told him to think. He said, "I'm trying to think but nothin happens."

Rebecca Crowell said...

Really like what is happening with these! and also your wit and wisdom in regards to process.

William Cook said...

Thank you again, Rebecca. This means so much to me that you checked this new stuff out. Ten seconds of looking at your work made me realize that I should be working again, and how deeply I've missed following these magical processes. Best regards. Wm

Jala Pfaff said...

I like these a lot, especially the first and last one.

William Cook said...

Hi Jala--Thanks for stopping by. I agree. That one in the middle just seems unsubstantial by comparison. I love the one on the bottom, but alas, I dcan only take credit for the snapshot. Wild stuff going on out there.
Always a pleasure. Wm