Today, I pick up where I left off a few weeks ago, writing about the journey that brought me to my current art process. I had described how after my initial drawing and painting classes – where I would work from the nude or from still lifes – I eventually began to create artworks that were inspired by organic forms but distorted by the color and/or form of my subject, and fragmented to recreate non-representational compositions. My art came out of introspection rather than a purely external inspiration, from the perceptual world. If anything, I was more interested in examining my paintings and responding to them, finding ways to build compositions and surfaces that felt complete and right, letting go of where they were inspired from.
I love how sometimes one thing in life intertwines with another, each activity permeating into the other, synergizing life experience. The travels that I have had the privilege of embarking on gave me an opportunity to reflect; I started to feel the need to write those thoughts on my canvases. One of those travels was an extended stay in Argentina where I was able to spend some time exploring my newly acquired process. Thus, moved by my eagerness to further integrate ways to add texture to my paintings, combined with this spontaneous desire to use my canvas surface as a journal, my “Manuscripts” series was born. This process of writing on the painting surface became a regular way of starting my artworks.
Poems, reflections, or words - although sometimes illegible or invisible in the final painting - would serve as mantras, textured foundations for the final piece. The text could be written with charcoal, pencil, paint, the back of the brush indenting the paint or any paint material I could explore this mark making with. One recent example of a Manuscript painting is “Recurrente”, where you can still see my handwriting. Like with other paintings, there is a story about the text… I wonder if you can read what I wrote on it…
Image: “Recurrente”, acrylic and pencil on canvas, 10 x 10 inches, available. If you have questions, please contact me here.
Hi Adriana, I commented on this blog a week ago, but looks like the comment did not take. Anyway, I think the text adds a beautiful touch, even when I cannot read the words. In my mind it creates waves and a great foundation. Thank you for sharing!🙂