From the desk of Artistic Amanda…

Today would have been the 97th birthday of influential American artist, Jackson Pollock. If you’re not familiar with his work, you might recognize it as spontaneous outbursts of liquid paint.

Number 31, 1950

Pollock typically began painting with his canvases laid out on the studio floor, and developed what was later called his “drip” technique. The drip technique required paint with a fluid viscosity so Pollock turned to then new synthetic resin-based paints, called alkyd enamels. Pollock described this use of household paints, instead of artist’s paints, as “a natural growth out of a need”. He used hardened brushes, sticks and even basting syringes as paint applicators. With this technique, Pollock was able to achieve a more immediate means of creating art, the paint now literally flowing from his chosen tool onto the canvas. By defying the conventional way of painting on an upright surface, he added a new dimension, literally, by being able to view and apply paint to his canvases from all directions.

When I am in my painting, I’m not aware of what I’m doing. It is only after a sort of ‘get acquainted’ period that I see what I have been about. I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well. -Jackson Pollock

In the process of making paintings in this way he moved away from figurative representation and challenged the use of easel and brush. In February 1956, Time magazine dubbed Pollock “Jack the Dripper” as a result of his unique painting style. He passed away just six months later.

In honor of his birthday, visit this site and create a masterpiece of your own. Here’s mine:

The wonderful thing about being an artist, is that you can find inspiration just about anywhere: colors, words, books, nature, music… I had a friend in college who wrote one of her best songs (for a school assignment, no less!) based off the Gustav Klimt painting, The Kiss.

I recently bought a book by Jim Krause called “Creative Sparks: An index of 150+ concepts, images and exercises to ignite your design ingenuity” — for those days (like today) when it’s 25 degrees outside and you don’t want to venture outside to find inspiration. Today, I cracked the spine of the book and landed on a page with this creative exercise:

MAKE FACES.

No other subject has received as much attention from artists than the human face. The language of the face is the most cross-cultural of all human languages and its dialects are endless. Don’t you think you should spend some time learning “face speak?”

Try this: using the tool of your choice (pen, pencil, mouse, stick) draw 9 faces within roughly the same “style.” Work fast, strive for variety within the unity of the style. Next time, try another style or continue in the same vein. Do this anytime you find yourself with a few minutes without something better to do.

Work in ink, pencil, paint and electronic media. Work with paper, pixels, chalk and anything else that can leave a mark. Notice how different media force different solutions. How far would your artistic and communicative abilities progress if you drew a thousand faces during the next year?

Interesting. I’ve never given much thought to faces being a language, but Krause is completely correct in saying that emotions can be read in any language. Below are my six faces. [I ran out of time and room!] What faces can you come up with?

"Make Faces" creative exercise.

As a creative person, I love blogs: reading them, writing them, designing them, etc. Again, as a creative person I sometimes focus too much on creating and lack the discipline to document the creative process… Though, I think this is equally important if I want to move forward and learn from my mistakes.

After much deliberation, I have decided to include a blog within my new website design. If nothing else, this will be a place where I will showcase my latest projects, exercise my creativity, or re-blog interesting articles on design.

Here’s to art!

Colour is my day-long obsession, joy and torment. (Claude Monet)