The expected, perfected.

My last post talked about spontaneity and planning. Spontaneity can be fun and exciting, or disappointing and discouraging. Planning can be exciting also, but the fun of it can be mired down into drudgery and result in lifelessness. To achieve a combination of the two is my ideal.

How does my creative process lend itself to these opposing forces? 

"Never Mind the Execution"

Susan V. Polansky,  2001

The best answer is to look at an overview of all my work. I never repeat the same thing. In fact, before I ever started using fabric, a college professor wanted me to work in a series. I just couldn't do it. Every painting I did was a "and now for something completely different!" I don't like templates, patterns, variations or the like. I don't get enough out of a re-do. There are many artists that hit upon a successful look, and they repeat that ad infinitum. They can streamline their technique, market the method, become known for their look. 

painted sneakers by 

Susan Polansky

God's Eye trials

Susan V. Polansky, 2006

Modern businesses have perfected the expected. Producing known outcomes is a safe business model. It probably started with production of the Model T, but post-war housing developments and fast food establishments took off and ran with the idea. A proliferation of uniformity creeps everywhere, even into areas where creativity and unique-ness thrived. We've all seen advertised: "Action Figure,"  "A.F. Returns," "A.F. Again!" and so on in the movies. And last I looked, I was surprised by how many adult book titles claim "(some number) of the (trilogy, series, saga.) Not that I haven't indulged in consumption of mass marketing! It's just not what I want for my art. However, having a guaranteed outcome is a much more reliable source of income! I am incredibly fortunate to have a supportive family, which allows me the freedom to spend time in my studio.

Composition: My Reaction to School Violence

Susan V. Polansky, 1999

Over the years, I've experimented with many mediums. I'm curious as to how other artists work. I bring what I've learned forward into each new piece. I can draw from my bag o' tricks whatever technique might serve the piece best. That is how I get lost in the "process." I'm constantly having a dialogue with a work in progress, observing what is working and what needs to happen. I don't feel limited by sticking with any one way of doing something. And I'm not afraid of change. My spontaneity is not a quick burst, but rather a collection of intuitive choices of what "feels" right at the moment. 

Muscle Memory

Let me first think about some smaller parts to this puzzle.

thinking about how the monuments will look

Here are some pages from my sketchbook, ones that I'm not too embarrassed to show. Drawing is like any motor skill. The muscles remember what to do long after learning the  skills, but practice and exercise is still needed for fluency. I'm a bit rusty. I like Prismacolor drawing pencils. I have a set that ranges from 9B to H. Pencils with a soft lead are B (the higher the number, the softer the lead.) This kind of pencil will make a denser, darker mark, while an H pencil leaves a finer, lighter line.  H is good for invisible guide lines, or very sharp detail. B is good for broader stokes and filling in areas. To force myself to use less detail, I have just bought a 2B graphite crayon, but I haven't used that yet.

I have never been much of a sketch artist - one who can put some quick ideas down on paper. I usually jump right into a project and get involved with details way too early in the game. Then I find that the of effort I put into details in the beginning is often wasted, because the final composition requires something different than I originally had thought. 

after a sketch, I made notes about what I liked or what to change

I also have not done a lot of pre-planning by way of drawings for previous quilts. Either I design as I go along or work with photoshop to compose a picture. In this case, because I have some very definite ideas that I want to express and I know that it's a lot to visually communicate, I know I've got to sort out things before I start with the actual quilt. As a writer makes an outline before delving into their thesis, so I also need to outline my points and be clear to myself what it is I'm trying to achieve.

how should I pose the people?

 

Some artists focus on "process." They get absorbed in working with their materials, taking direction for how to proceed with their work by responding to the outcome of their manipulations. Sometimes it's a "I want to see what happens when I do this or that.." or "I was just playing with (some medium, some idea) and look what happened: let me follow that direction.." It's a wonderful transcendent feeling, to not "think," to be so wrapped up in what you're doing. It's as if a piece is talking to you, saying, "I need this" or "hey, try this over here." It's muscle memory again! The brain is a muscle - it's got to be trained first before it can just work on it's own. Art can be created in a spontaneous manner when there is a grounding of knowing how to respond. Design, composition, balance, focus, perspective and all the other factors in creating art are all being processed in the background. If one weren't considering these elements, then their art is randomness - which may or may not turn out appealing. 

So, what's the problem?

I had hoped that I could grab some images, collage them together, and - Voila! - it would look great. No such luck. The photocomposition confirms how complicated my idea is, yet at the same time, is "proof of concept." The idea has gone from loose ideas in my mind to something definite I can see on paper. It's a good starting point. The photo presents too many insignificant details that interfere with really "seeing" what is going on in the overall scheme.

My eye does not know where to look. There is no clear focal point, nothing that grabs your attention and draws you in. A good composition has a flow to it, guiding your eye around - but this has no order to it.

something recognizable helps to show 

where you are looking from 

As the photos were taken from different angles, the perspective is not consistant. In the photoshopped image from my Monday 2/11 post, I am looking from above at the two figures in the foreground, yet I seem to be looking at the eye level of the seated man behind them. In any picture, for realism to work, there can only be one eye level.

The entire background is not clear - what is the size of everything? Is it close or far away? The flags do not add any information, they are just adding to visual confusion. If they went from large flags in the foreground to small ones in the distance, it would help define the amount of distance I'm trying to describe. It is understood that each flag is the same size, so if some are very tiny, they must be far away.

I wanted to have groups of people in this quilt, but there is no room for them. Already there is too much going on.

I need to simplify and better define my thoughts.

The monster of my doubt

Am I happy with the photo compositions I posted on Monday?

 Yes and No.

Yes - I like my idea. Seeing images and colors together works as "proof of concept." It starts bringing my imaginations into reality. Yes, this can all work together.

No - I'm too caught up in the fun of photo manipulation. I'm seeing details when that is not what I should be looking for at this stage. I've got all the pieces I need for the puzzle, but how to arrange them?

The monster of my doubt is looming. 

This is too complicated.

Stretching the truth

With Photoshop Elements, all of my images can be put on layers that can be handled independently. I can remove backgrounds, re-size, change location, or manipulate their appearance in any number of ways. Usually, I start by removing everything from a photo that I know I don't want. Then I might separate the photo into separate parts. Below are two versions having different layers visible. 

In this version, I 've enlarged the background structure and brought it a little bit forward. I've put some bank safe doors into the structures to see how that looks, along with the row of safes. I'm pleased with how the forms of these structures relate to each other.

Now in this version, I added a transparent layer of the man. Maybe he is a ghost? Could I make that happen with fabric? Possibly, but I wouldn't want to use a technique that would call undo attention to one area. Have to keep this in mind. I put in a bigger safe behind the man, trying it out as a monument. I can eliminate this, just doesn't make any sense. 

I want to have everything look as if it belongs where it is. Believable realism relies on how humans typically perceive their world. We expect a certain consistency. For example, if you are looking at a scene from above, you can't put in an item that shows it being seen from below - it just wouldn't make sense. If a scene occurs during a dull cloudy day, it wouldn't make sense to have a gleaming highlight or intense shadow. If something doesn't look right, it will ruin the atmosphere. The truth can be stretched, but only so far. 

How about the people?

How do you remember people? I want people in my quilt going about different ways of remembering - photographs, stories, thinking. Maybe groups of people; people interacting.

This is a pose I think would work well. Two seated people looking at a photo album. Their faces are not important. One person holds an album in their lap while the other cranes their neck to see.

                                                           

I love this group, especially the woman with her head thrown back in laughter. The body posture will be important to convey a dynamic conversation going on.

Another group, casually seated together, celebrating during Dios de Los Muertos.  Their postures are relaxed, and again a figure has their head thrown back, with what I imagine to be laughter.

I've started to remove the background from  my husband's photo of a Oaxacan  father and his kids. I'd really like to use the pose of the man.  He seems to be quietly resigned to his thoughts.  The folded hands and slight slouch help to give that feeling.  Something about him - his  weight, his posture,  something - reminds me of my brother also, so that would be good to put in this quilt.

Now that I've selected a lot of reference images, 

how are they going to look together?

set decorating

I've found some interesting photos and I've been playing around with them to see if any ideas gel.
This photo shows the colorful flags that I think will be good for adding the bright, festive tone. They also would be very useful for perspective. I could have them draping from foreground to background, with an extreme size difference. That would help describe the space that the figures are in, how close or how far back they are.

The structure of the building is a bit too block-y - the dark ached doorway is intriguing - but the rest would read only as a solid mass. (Guess I should expect mass from church!)

How about the shapes below for structures? They're quite complicated. I do want to keep in mind
that I will be constructing this from fabric.

Looking back at the photo I posted the other day, I see a part that captures my eye. I like the simplicity of the structures in the background, and they remind me of the church structure above. The attached crosses I could take out: what if I replaced them with keys, maybe the old fashioned skeleton keys? I like the color palette that is in this area also - have to keep this in mind.

The cemetery
Hari Polansky, 2008


 

Googling around, I found some pictures of bank safes.  I have in my head that it's a visual I want to use, but just how will they fit in? They're symbolically interesting, but not too visually dynamic. They have to "read" as a safe and not just some clunky boxes, otherwise the symbolism won't work. Substituting a bank safe for cemetery vault is what I'm after.