My table is full of books. I'm working on a little (or big actually) project for the coming year that I want to call "The Year of Stolen Ideas". The point of this is to finally start using all those fabulous art books I have, to try out projects, new techniques and prompts that I come across and that intrigue me. Of course it's impossible to work through every book I have so I'm going to do a kind of lottery system.
First I am going through all my books to see if they are suitable for prompting ideas and projects. Some books are just show and tell really, and those are not the ones I'm looking for. I write down the titles of all the books I think will be interesting to 'steal' ideas from. I will write all those titles on pieces of paper, fold them and put them in a box or something. Then I will draw a piece of paper and whatever book I draw is the one I will have to get my next project from.
Now it's not my intention to really steal ideas (as in copy somebody elses work) of course, but more to try out new things and just get my mind working over something I might see or finally give some techniques a go that I've always wondered about. I still have no idea exactly how this all will work out, but it seems like fun to me to kind of surprise myself with projects/ideas and work from there to make something original. I'll keep you posted on how it all goes.
Then I wanted to show you the only art I did in my vacation that was outside of a book. At some point halfway through my two weeks off I had the need to just play with materials without wondering about the outcome, so basically I made a background with a whole lot of different mark makers. After that I turned it into a mysterious forest.
The paper is a little warped and so is the picture, but you get the idea. I had a lot of fun making this and the end result is actually somewhat darker than you see here which gives a better atmosphere. I keep finding it hard to make good pictures of these big sheets of acrylic paper that I sometimes use. But oh well...;-)
I find it interesting that when I don't know what to do with a piece of background I always resort to trees or faces. Somehow those are always fitting to me. I'm still not sure if that means I have a distinct personal preference or if I'm a little afraid to try something new. Maybe it's a little of both. Is there something you resort to when you don't know what to do next or maybe a certain symbol or image that always turns up in your work? I'd love to read about some of your personal imagery.
And of course I hope you're all having a lovely artsy Wednesday.