And just like that, in 2 days, the mentees came back with their chosen medium, topics and size of paintings they will like to exhibit.
Common issues that occurred:
Attracted to 2-3 different topics: Decision on this issue will be resolved by end of this month. See our plan+intent.
Chose medium that didn’t suit the topic chosen. E.g. if one’s chosen style is ink and wash with the ink line being mono-width (without varying width), then it doesn’t suit topics that want to show movement. If the style wants to stay with a uniform line width, then, movement has to be compensated for in dynamic composition and extreme control of color gamut. In that case, thin layers of watercolors don’t exude enough energy to compensate for the static lines.
Using crayons as part of exhibiting media: Having never seen crayon art in galleries, I am not convinced that they exude professionalism. I would like to be proven wrong on this front. First few trials of work will revise the opinion.
Upskilling expectations: The mentorship will raise production skills and teach one planning and execution. While guidance on art will be a part of all interaction here on, I won’t be teaching art actively.
Plan:
Collect 20 references, deadline Jan 28. Absolute minimum is 10 references. Copyright free. If not copyright free, email publisher. Share with the group a plan to collect your own references if starting with just 10. e.g. I intend to travel to Crawford Market on Sunday at 8am and 4pm to photograph references for my work.
Stringing the references - In the cloud location shared with the group, rename all the references by appending a numerical prefix. E.g. Original file names: IMG345.jpeg, IMG_rm_dsfdjnfsd.jpeg becomes 1_IMG345.jpg, 2_IMG_rm_dsfdjnfsd.jpeg
Quick succession painting: By Jan 28, paint twice, reference 1 from your collection at half of final the size you chose for yourselves for the exhibit, in medium you have chosen for yourself for the exhibit. Paper: the best paper you can afford assuming you will make 20 practice paintings -using both front and back, that is 10 sheets- and 10 more for exhibit, for a total of 20 sheets should be ready with you asap.
Intent:
Collecting references may show natural inclination or ease of execution for a particular topic and will aid in self-selecting from 2-3 topics if one started with multiple topic choices.
Stringing of references will show me a story arc through them. I expect most people to order them from easy to hard to execute. If not this order of preference, there will be an inherent pattern of how people expect to get from point A to point B. The exercise will reduce the abrupt jumps in thinking. If not, it will make me aware of where I can guide the thinking.
Quick succession painting will create a baseline of where work, love for the topic lies. Much of production art is repetitive that sucks out the high of creation initially and in the interim (the high returns but at the end when newness creeps back in the routine). Since I believe in front loading work, this is my way of seeing art under slightly fatiguing conditions.
Make experiments to reveal weaknesses early on to give ourselves maximum time to strengthen them or to put in systems to avoid them.
Consistency is the name of the game.
Reminder
When in doubt, when about to laze, ask if you will show up for yourself. If the answer doesn’t motivate you, then adopt yourself. If you will not fail your child, then it’s likely you won’t fail the adopted self child. Rephrase problem to leverage innate personality trait.
