I drew the drawing for this piece back in April, 2017. It had been hanging out in my sketchbook for a while after I drew it one cloudy day in a cafe near by. After applying ball-point pen, alcohol based marker, and pencil at the cafe, later that evening I splashed some acetone on to the surface to make the pen and marker media bleed. After the acetone evaporated, I then applied some water dirtied by some old Sumi ink. The water made the water-based ink designs bleed, which I had drawn on the surface earlier at the cafe.
What I just described is just the natural media and traditional means of image production. After digitalizing the image about a month ago, I made several versions of it. This image you see here has some organic matter I added as a layer behind the drawing elements.
Basically, it was a plant stalk I gathered from our garden in the back. I scanned the organic matter into an electronic document separately from the drawing.
It’s another example of results from mixing several sources of media. Moreover, it’s digitized, adding yet another medium to the mix. This illustration represents the meeting of media in an experimental communion. Media, to me, are just as important as the designs I make with them. For example, a line drawn by a ball-point pen is different than a line drawn by a Sharpie marker. Each medium has its individual qualities, properties, and characteristics, and, if an artist gets to know those traits well enough, he or she can let those traits express themselves more fully or experimentally.
As an artist, I have learned to “listen” to what the media are telling me as I create. They leave signs for me in possible steps I can take next in my process of creating. While I may be the active source producing the art I make, I also am like a medium that’s interacting with the other media during the processes of drawing, painting, gluing, cutting or whatever. We’re all like spirits who have come together in this moment making twists and turns beyond reason in the great intractable ocean of human emotion and the even greater flow of the Tao. The word “symbol” literally means “thrown together” from it’s roots in Latin. Things, such as media, lines, shapes, colors, and signs are thrown together in ever changing, non-repeatable patterns.
I called this series Rock Plant because of the rock resembling shapes I drew by the bottom of the picture in graphite. It’s a plant of my own making, with the help of some organic matter from nature, that’s growing from a garden furnished by rocks. There are some interesting wire-looking bugs flying around. I changed the color of the plant material into more bluish hues so as to approximate a closer analogy to the plant stalk I drew with blue ball-point pen. I’m enjoying working with the basics of drawing: Line, shape, form, and space. I’m enjoying the effects of multiple gradations and convolutions in space.
Specifications:
Title: Rock Plant (version 9a)
Source media: Ball-point pen, alcohol based marker, water-based pen, graphite, and diluted Sumi ink on sketchpad paper digitally combined with organic plant matter
Source drawing completed: 4/26/2017
Print media: Hewlett Packard printer ink from Hewlett Packard DesignJet Z2100 printer on Hewlett Packard print paper (Note: print can be made with archival paper and printer if requested)
Digital manipulation completed: 7/20/2017
Dimensions of print: 34 inches by 26 inches
Number of limited edition prints: 25
Investment of print not framed: $90.00
Investment of print framed: $425.00 (shipping included)
Contact me: artofevan@hotmail.com
Art of eVan 