​Art for Divination?

Art for Divination?

23/6/2016

I wonder if you have ever noticed shapes and figures, monsters and animals hidden in the swirls and patterns of cracked tiles or peeling paint? My green marble bathroom tiles seem to be seething with all sorts of wonderful patterns, and one day I really should sit in there and copy them as carefully as I can.

I think that it was Leonardo who advised his students to do just this. He said it was the best way to liberate and encourage creative thought.

Once you start seeing things, it’s hard to stop. First you will probably see faces, as that’s what we humans seem to identify with most easily, but soon other things will pop up and surprise you too.

I often cover canvases and paper using a homemade crazy roller. I tie string around a foam roller and then use it with a mix of gesso and acrylics. Lovely! The unpredictable marks that this produces on canvas or paper are always interesting. I just couldn’t make those marks on purpose.

In this way I can produce sets of patterns with lovely textures that just have to sit around and wait until I am inspired by them. Then the trick is to pick out just enough detail to define what I have seen without losing the mystery of the marks. It’s as if the pictures are paintings themselves, and that they were just waiting for me to be in the right frame of mind to see them. I'm sure that someone else would see completely different things in them......

When I found a pile of canvases in my studio that I had resurfaced ready for repainting, I wasn’t really surprised when the random marks became worried faces and trees.
This is probably true for all of us; we will find things in odd patterns that are relevant to what is currently happening in our lives. It’s a bit like reading tea leaves – a way of divination perhaps?

I have been working on a collection of paintings of trees for some time now. It’s a subject I return to quite often. I have made so many sketches and studies on the subject that I am seeing tree shapes everywhere. My feelings around their wanton destruction and our disregard for their importance are also coming to the surface.

I will be exhibiting these paintings - and many more - at Palazzo de Piro in Mdina from September 7th until October 30th. The collection will be titled "The Rhythm of Life" and will explore the connections I make between trees, music and movement. For more information please contact me HERE

Classes Update
Figure Drawing classes at Palazzo de Piro will start on Tuesday July 5th - we will be working with live models every week.
Outdoor classes at Villa Bologna will continue on Friday July 8th.
Both classes are from 9.30 am to 12pm and are 20 euro, 6 classes for 100 euro.
All levels are welcome - we are all eternal students !
More information HERE

8 Comments

Pam Hill

23/6/2016 07:24:29 pm

Yes It's fun to find patterns in the most unlikely places and it
can be very fascinating to watch. I have often captured with my camera the swirls formed at the bottom of my empty salad bowl, for example the combination of beetroot juice and seasoning.
Thanks for sharing the idea of combining gesso and acrylic. Must try that and pass it on to other people in my art group. Thank you Jenny for sharing your ideas, I certainly find them stimulating.

Jeni link

27/6/2016 10:31:05 am

Hi Pam - there are potentially inspiring patterns everywhere around us, aren't there? Nature provides us with more than enough to keep us working for a lifetime! All (all?) we have to do is practice our techniques so that we can do her justice!
As you know, I do preach good drawing skills and working from life rather than simply from photographs, but eventually those skills are stimulated by more than just what we see on the surface..... hmm!! I can feel another blog coming on!

Susan Waitt

23/6/2016 07:58:24 pm

Yes, Jeni -- This is called pareidolic art ... and a friend and I have been exploring it for quite a few years. My own art is very fantasy based and my next exhibition (Oct) is definitely along these spooky, uncanny, divinatory lines. I love biomorphic art as well ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia Susan W.

27/6/2016 10:52:59 am

Hi Susan - what a wonderful name for a fascinating phenomenon! I know that your art is very deeply inspired, and I am really looking forward to seeing your exhibition in October!

27/6/2016 10:24:27 am

I have had many replies to this subject - some by email and not directly on the blog. I have asked permission to reproduce some that I think you might all find interesting... this from Morney

"I can recall strange creatures even now, hidden in rough Cornish plaster walls, old wooden furniture and tiles. Funny that it always seemed to be bathrooms and loos! I guess because it was the only place where I was commanded to sit, so there I thought and noticed my surroundings. Some loos in houses of great aunts were avoided as scary creatures skulked in dark corners along with the spider's webs! Long pink drawers hung on ancient radiators with rusty ribs. I had to walk home with my legs crossed!
The human eye is designed from birth to find faces and bodies in objects and shadows. Now almost grown up, it always amuses me how one can pick out the strangest things appearing from disparate inanimate items. But I am still not going back to that Aunt's bathroom, and particularly not at night."

Antje Fries Harsberg

21/11/2016 06:56:14 am

Hi Jeni
Do you have classes near Mellieha holydaycenter from januar 15. until february 17. I prefer watercolor and drawing.

Greating from
Antje

21/11/2016 03:59:37 pm

Hi Antje! I will be holding classes in the Majjistral Park near Golden Bay on Sundays between those dates. I focus on drawing and watercolour in all my classes... I'll put you on my mailing list and send you more details.
Looking forward to seeing you here!
Jeni :-)

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