My initial, and also the initial of Maya Angelou, who says:
"Not everything you create will be a masterpiece, but you get out there and you try, and sometimes it really happens. The other times you're just stretching your soul."
Thanks to Leah at the home site of Art Every Day Month for this quote.
So, this Maya Angelou quote was running through my mind as I started with today's challenge.
I wanted some imagery that would develop briskly on the paper but still be a challenge in technique and rendering.
Some icon or logo, I thought... maybe some oriental character? ... What about using capital letters?
I thought, well, where's the challenge in just painting letters?
And then I thought there's that quote, it's telling me that if nothing else, my challenge will be staying with the project and making it happen.
And if it doesn't work this time, according to Maya Angelou, at least I'm stretching my soul.
As it turned out, today's painting was a bit of a challenge technically.
I haven't created letters with a brush since I was in my teens, and I became fascinated with how the shape of the letter showed up against its background.
I attempted shading the letter with lighter and darker strokes, and I was just as intrigued with the failures in rendering as with the successes.
In the end, this sheet of 16 M's reminds me of rough hand-lettered signs, carnival sideshow banners, and for some reason, a children's book that I may have owned when I was little.
And I'm thinking that my soul is being stretched every time I glance over and take another look at one of those 16 M's.
3 comments:
Great quote and great work Mavis. Of course I am attracted to the M's! I've always loved font and as a child in grade 3 got reprimanded for trying to write every line of my story in a different way. The teacher just didn't get it.
Margaret
Hi Margaret... working with lettering is great... I used to do brushed lettering, and then I discovered font design on the computer - it's an entire new world of visual expression!
I am loving your 16 block pieces of art this month! The lettering is one of my favorites. I went through a phase of writing very curly and then very straight and I think I went through a fast dotting i's with hearts phase! Your techniques are beautiful and inspiring.
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