The Art of Life is to Show Your Hand

This post's title is part of a larger quote by E.V. Lewis in which he comments on the value of being candid instead of deceptive. I've taken a portion of his quote -- to literally mean 'show your hand'.

Wendy MacNaughton is an artist, illustrator, visual columnist for the NYTimes, and an author. She is also the Creator and Drawer-in-Chief of DrawTogether, a participatory drawing show for children, and Grown-Ups Table, lessons and a community for drawing-minded adults delivered via Substack subscription. I've just recently signed up and have been able to access some older articles.

In her Nov 5, 2022 piece about how to look at art as an artist, she profiles two inspiring artists one of which is Bisa Butler, an amazing fiber/quilt art designer and maker.

See Bisa Butler's Portfolio here

As part of the article, Wendy included a fun audio exercise of using torn paper to create a hand from your imagination (palm, fingers, fingernails). I love fun ideas so ran with it and created a bright-colored one on black paper (see photo below).

It looks a bit Halloweenish, but it is more than that. That's because it looks just like my hand wearing a wrist brace -- that I've recently been able to discontinue wearing as an injury has healed (see what wearing it looked like in photo below).

Isn't it interesting how symbolic our work can be when there is no planning involved in the doing? Are there times when you see this happening in your own work? Do you know what has prompted those instances when you look back?

Comments

Introducing 'Kaleidoclown'

For fun, I've drawn one of my own photos (yes, I was dressed in a clown outfit) and added a wild and crazy background to accompany it for today's practice effort. As part of sketching the piece, it was split into four sections with two opposing diagonal lines. In terms of color choices, I've worked with color gradations for some shape sections. Can you believe, there are five major shapes in this effort? There really are -- circles, squares, trapezoids, triangles and spirals. I think the substrate is Biengfang Watercolor Paper (140 lb.). The materials used were Ohuhu markers, Micron 01 pigment ink pen, some red Stickles glitter glue for the nose, and a white Posca pen (for white dots on the face and to highlight eyes) and a yellow one (for yellow dots in the center of the flowers on the hat). There was no intention in working on this piece other than to have fun...and based on how it looks, I'd say well done!. One thing I learned is that blending with the Ohuhus i

New Project in Progress

I'm working on a new project with multiple layers and shapes of different colored organzas. It is an interpretation of lighting on an ice rink...from a show I recently saw. There is a lot more stitching to do, but I like how its coming along. I'm learning organzas are not easy to work with especially when you layer them and have overlaid edges. The fabric also tends to ravel easily. This post also linked to http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com .

A New Sharpie Drawing/Painting

This effort was done starting with a 5-minute sketch while process photos were taken along the way. My intention was to work on color selections and to complete the jewelry/dangles to stand out without overtaking the female image (and maybe even getting a sense of dimension with their use). This is the second project in which a straight line across the page has been added to interrupt the wavy/curved lines -- and to show that using subtle color adjustments on each side of the line. (The first project that incorporates a line can be seen in the August 23rd post,) I'm pleased with how this came out. There are a few areas where the decoration looks sparse, but I notice it seems restful to my eye, since the balance of the Sharpie-painted areas are much busier. What is your experience looking at it? What draws your attention first?

Cay Denise

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