Monday, December 29, 2014

AS THE YEAR COMES TO AN END...LOOKING AHEAD TO 2015

METAMORPHOSIS

What a wonderful way to finish up the year...I just received an email today that this painting will be in the Incite 3 book which is a series like Splash but featuring mixed media work.     I have to photograph the work before January 16th.  Fortunately, the painting is going to be in the CWA National exhibition which is local to me, so I can make the deadline with the generous cooperation of a few people involved in the exhibition.  After reading the photography requirements, I am going to do it myself with my new iPhone 6 plus.  It has 8 megapixels capability and amazingly color accuracy.  I downloaded a great app called Camera+ which allows me to control the settings with more sophistication.  

In my last post, I promised to publish my artistic goals for 2015.  It is only a goal if you write it down.  Keeping it in your head doesn't count!  As I have mentioned on numerous occasions, I try to focus on a limited number of aspects and explore as many of the variations as I can come up with.  So here is what I have decided to work with for 2015: 

1.  Explore mono-printing.  I have done some in the past year or two but I want to be able to "visualize" the result in advance and not have everything be a lucky accident or a total surprise.  
It will just take lots and lots of "doing" for me to get some predictability.  The great thing about collage papers is they all can be used in some way or another, so no fear of messing up or wasting supplies.  Some of the papers will be incorporated into my portraits and others will inspire me in new directions.  

2.  I am a book-a-holic!  This year, I am going to take one book, 80@80, the Paintings of Michael Morgan, and study his texture techniques (there is no description in the book how he does it, so it will be hit and miss, trial and error) his color schemes, compositions and value patterns.  Michael Morgan is an English landscape painter and it will be interesting to see how I can translate into portraiture what I glean from his work.  The color schemes, compositions and value patterns will show up in the mono prints.  

3.  I want to have more than one image in each painting.  I have been collecting different ideas for this idea on Pinterest.  You can see what I have so far to inspire me on the board "Double Exposure"

4.  I plan to explore the idea of partially obscured imagery that I am calling "Lost and Found" for lack of a better description.  Again, Pinterest has been very helpful as a place to collect inspiration.

5.   The last focus for the coming year will be to consciously create an 80%/20% contrast dominance 
with the various elements in the painting.  

I hope this gives all of  you some inspiration to devise your own set of challenges for the coming year.  I would love to hear what ideas you will be working on.  Be sure and share.

Thank you all for your generous support of my efforts this past year through your comments on my blog.  I hope everyone has a healthy, creative and joyous new year!

12 comments:

Meera Rao said...

Congratulations! thats a beautiful ending and beggining :) Your goals for 2015 are challenging and exciting --looking forward to the creative journey that you will be forging. Wishing you a wonderful 2015!

Myrna Wacknov said...

Thank you, Meera! I can't wait to see what you have planned for 2015.

Gary L. Everest said...

Hi Myrna,
It's been awhile since I last commented, so it's time to let you know how blown away I remain by your boundless creativity.
I visit your blog frequently and am always amazed at your energy and ideas and love of the artist's life.
May the New Year see your goals come to fruition in the normal (for you) spectacular way. :)
Sincerely,
Gary.

Myrna Wacknov said...

Hi Gary, I appreciate that you have always been such a big supporter of my work. I delight in reading about your adventures in Hawaii. I wish a wonderful year ahead for you, as well!

alteredstatesstudio said...

Congrats on getting into the book! No doubt it will be another fabulous book! I love your goals and I have been thinking about those too- but, you are right...if you don't write them down what good are they. Happy 2015!

mary Crowell said...

you are an inspiration!

Karen Knutson said...

I usually make new goals every year, but this year, I'm doing it differently. I'm going to make Monthly goals and see if I stick with them better. I'm doing Leslie Saeta's challenge of 30 paintings in 30 days again this January. I challenge you to join us, Myrna! Hoping to talk Anne Bagby into it too. :)

Myrna Wacknov said...

Thank you Kristin. Yes, the secret is writing them down, being very specific, have a time table and a plan.

Myrna Wacknov said...

Thank you Mary. I hope to do some local teaching this coming year. Perhaps you can participate!

Myrna Wacknov said...

Karen, the monthly goals and 30 paintings in 30 days worked well for you last year. I love my book you gave me with all 30 birds. I am going to pass as January is starting off with a funeral in KC (not an auspicious beginning) and Planning for a big event in early February. I look forward to seeing what you do this year!

Sonia said...

Hi Myrna, I look forward to seeing your experiments inspired by Michael Morgan's work. About five summers ago I was lucky enough to find myself on holiday in the seaside town of Beer where I dropped into a gallery on the preview day of a Morgan exhibition. It was good to see his work in person. I have a book by Jackie Simmonds "Watercolour Innovations" which includes about ten pages of his work and techniques. Sadly the artist died earlier this year, but the Marine House Gallery still have a couple of videos about him on their site. http://www.marinehouseatbeer.co.uk/michael-morgan-1/

Myrna Wacknov said...

Hi Sonia, Thank you so much for sharing. Lucky lucky you getting to see one of Michael Morgan's paintings in person. I didn't know he had passed away this year. He was 86 according to my calculations and working up to the end. I ordered the book Watercolor Innovations thanks to your mentioning it. Hopefully there will be some great ideas in there I can use. On the Beer Gallery website there was another video about Michael Bernard who is my other favorite English landscape painter. I have his book and have translated some of his techniques into one of my favorite self portraits. Shirley Trevena rounds out my English triumvirate. There must be many more fabulous English artists I know nothing about. Time to do more research.

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