Can you build a whole painting around a single square of color? You can learn to, if you play around. That’s what I’m doing by playing with colored rectangles derived from those used by Wassily Kandinsky in Thirteen Rectangles. Although the arrangement of Thirteen Rectangles seems random, each shape and its color is part of the dynamic … read more Day 99: Playing with Kandinsky
Category: Improvisation
The Adventure Girl Cookbook: Improvising a Life. Recipes, ideas and stories about creativity, mindfulness and improvisation as a major ingredient in art, food, work, life
Day 93: Improv in blue
I was on a hunt for chorizo. You never know where they’ll put it in a big grocery store. A Publix employee in the meat department, who was standing maybe eight feet away, gave me a huge smile and fairly bellowed, “Hello! How’re you doing?” I jumped – her greeting was that big. “Oh, hi, I’m fine!” I … read more Day 93: Improv in blue
Day 86: Broken glass
When I was a kid, I used to accumulate burnt-out light bulbs in a paper bag and then take them down to the river to smash against the rocks. In my twenties, it was vodka and gin bottles. Last year, I got so mad at my computer that I hurled a glass of water against a … read more Day 86: Broken glass
Day 85: Overwhelming the subtle
Here’s a tip: Don’t substitute feta for brie. Especially not in a lobster-brie dip recipe. Think this post is about food? It isn’t. The sharp taste of feta is great, but it overwhelms the subtler tastes. Just because you like feta crumbles on your salad doesn’t mean it should be rumbling in vats across your … read more Day 85: Overwhelming the subtle
Day 81: On the grid
Grids: Some drawing teachers refuse to use them. Perhaps they believe that drawing something wrong, over and over, is better because it’s unaided. Grids can be used to scale an image: Take a 5 by 7 print of a photo, and draw lines dividing it into 35 one-inch boxes. Then draw 35 three-inch boxes on an 18 by 24 sheet … read more Day 81: On the grid
Day 80: Smartest person in the room
I’m not a morning person. I used to actually cry when I had to get up really early. So, when I lead a team meeting for our project in Pakistan, I’d rather that it wasn’t at 8 a.m. But we have team members in Vienna, Lahore, Tokyo and Sydney, and this is the only time … read more Day 80: Smartest person in the room
Day 74: Dipping in
I woke up early this morning certain of one thing: I will not live past this year. I will not survive past the age of 56. It was not a panic, nor a vague fear. Just a clear understanding: 56 is it, the final year. There was no image of death in a fiery wreck … read more Day 74: Dipping in
Day 71: Scattered
I’m not sure if I should even be writing today. All day I have been unable to focus on anything for more than a few minutes at a time. Peck, peck, neck swivel, peck, check email, peck peck, think about painting, peck peck, add up some numbers, peck peck, peck peck peck. Ever done that? … read more Day 71: Scattered
Day 67: Contours
He had no sharp angles. Every part of him offered curved lines. Every muscle had definition and volume. The model was perfect for drawing cross-contour lines… the lines which we practiced in the exercise for today, my first class in figure drawing. First, the “swoop” – the gesture line that describes the basic posture, following … read more Day 67: Contours
Day 61: Smooth ride on a rough road
The road to Booger Hollow is about as bad as any road I’ve been on, including in Africa. We’ve actually named some of the tougher spots: Grand Canyon, Little Grand Canyon, Big Rock, Jagged Culvert. Booger Hollow is a 40-acre patch of private land smack in the middle of a national forest, where we have … read more Day 61: Smooth ride on a rough road