it might work
try all the ideas, the solution is out there.
yancey towne’s art making is a weekly peek into the art studio to share learnings, current projects, and inspiration. Making art is what teaches us who we are, what we believe in, and what we can create… here’s to finding yours.
When an idea comes to me whether it’s about a new project or a new style of painting, I usually sit with it a bit to work out a few logistics in my mind before moving too far forward. I tell myself that this is good practice and I’m being a good planner. Yes, to a degree, planning is good. But sometimes I can get so deep in the planning that I never get to the work. There are so many factors to consider in a project and there’s no way my brain can account for all of them, so the planning stays one dimensional in a sense.
Lately, I’ve been testing out a more hands-on approach by diving in earlier without all the mental planning. Then, as I make progress, I touch base with the plans to see how ideas and reality are matching up. As much a this approach fights with my habits, it’s a more efficient way of working and allows me to learn experientially in the moment.
One area I’ve been testing this lately is in illustration sketches. When I get initial concepts and instruction from project lead, I’ve been creating rather messy cut and paste sketches with the ideas and sharing them right away. The first time I did this, the look on the lead’s face as I shared the mock up was fright. I had to laugh—we were new to working together and while the sketch I shared was what they had described, it didn’t translate to the art. As cute as I tried to make it, it was kind of creepy…
Since I had only spent about twenty minutes max on creating the sketch, no real momentum or time was lost. I was able to shift directions and keep making progress. I’d much prefer to share pretty art. My brain wishes it could see all the steps and the final project mapped out perfectly before beginning, but how often do things really go according to plans? I need the practice of messily trying things out to test-run projects.
In art making especially, it never hurts to get working with some materials right away. Each and every time you pick up your supplies is an experiment that can help you grow and learn. Try it. Make the mess, evaluate what worked and what you liked, then dive in deeper and see what happens… 💛
current projects
A few of the projects I’m working on at the moment. This is how my brain works—I have projects set up so I can drop in on any one of them even for a minute or two. The moments add up and I find that even a couple of minutes pushing paint or making stitches helps me feel settled and more connected to my core.
knits: The finished neckline and a peek at the difference between inside and out. The strands capture my imagination since they look so different from the knit triangles. The work up next is all the finishing—weaving in all the loose ends and then a gentle soak in water to soften all the wool into place.
watercolor: Continuing to explore various lines and color combinations with this series. Being able to work on four pieces at a time helps me experiment with multiple ideas at once. Not that it is all about speed, but sometimes, its fun to work quickly so that my mind doesn’t have a chance to butt in.
patterns: Blooms are beginning to happen here and I am soaking up all the new color and sun soaked symmetry. I have been curious about making some abstract floral prints. I think I need to just get playing with some long brushes and color because at this point, I’m too much in my brain about it, ha.
paint: The bright line of pink is chalk pastel that I’m experimenting with in my paintings. I’ve wanted to get this quality of line in my pieces, but I hadn’t figured out how to get it set without using a spray fixative (an aerosol spray that kind of glues down the chalk so it doesn’t smear and smudge).
Thanks for reading! If you’re working on a project of your own, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.