Form, function and style...

A quick post to layout some details on the art itself. I'm admittedly all over the place in style. In fact, I've been looking for my artistic voice for years now, even in spite of a 30 year detour as a graphic designer. I've tried all manor of mediums: oils, pastels, mosaics, acrylics, watercolor; and lots of subjects; florals, landscapes, and graphic abstraction (college days). I really enjoy painting with watercolor, but don't love the finished pieces which always strike me as sort of safe and ordinary.

I love additive medium of collage and mixed media – the concept of assemblage resonates deeply, but when I work on representational or figurative subjects, I find that it reinforces my tendency to be very tight. For all those non-artists, that is the opposite of the loose style often seen in impressionism or abstract expressionism – think wonky thick swirls of garish color by Van Gogh or the free splattering Jackson Pollack. I do love me a good tight illustrative style (be still my heart, Andrew Wyeth), but mostly I'm drawn to the modern art of Paul Klee, Robert Rauschenburg, Jasper Johns, and Henri Matisse, and too many contempory abstract artists to list here. I've decided that their work will be my visual inspiration. This will be a great departue from my recent #28FebruaryFlowers work which tends toward impressionism. I'm hoping this practice of #100daysofsongart exercise will help me better find my artistic sweet spot. Practice makes progress!

Calvin’s lyrics are narrative, playful and metaphorical so my goal is to mimic these qualities in the art. I expect to use a lot of symbolic elements, specifically in color, form and graphics, while doing my best to avoid illustrations, figures or literal representation.

Regarding size and format, I've given this a lot of thought and frankly I'm still debating. I think I will work in an approximate 5:4 ratio, equal to a 10x8 canvas with small format draft works on 7.5x 6. The orientation will translate best to a printed book and also be able to work fairly well in social media formats, although I'm not crazy about losing a vertical option which is my preference.

Time to start making some art! First up: Adam & Eve.