Wednesday, October 15, 2008
ArtPact #68 - Marveling at Marbling
In between preparations for our next upcoming watercolor show (opens this Saturday!), I went to a demo on Monday, at the other organization I belong to. Not the watercolor-only, but one that's open for all media (and whose shows have been quite good to me :-)
They hold a monthly meeting with a demonstrator (usually) or a speaker (rarely, as the attention span of artists is a bit... um... hey, look! blue car!).
This month, it was a talented and truly sweet artist, named Yoju . She was showing us the art of Suminagashi, which translates to 'Spilled Ink', and is a Japanese take on the Italian marbling technique. Her English wasn't the best - but it didn't matter. At all. She started creating some cool patterns by dripping ink into water mixed with a gelling agent, played the inks with brushes and tooth picks and then laid a sheet of rice paper on top of the water, cleaned around the edges, pulled it up - and we all WOWed appreciatively at the result. The outcome was incredibly beautiful: a flowing pattern of blacks and white, sensuous lines, curvaceous shapes - we all chanted harmoniously with the known "Ohh, if I could do that!".
And as we were standing around with sheer admiration, she took that stuning masterpiece, crumpled the paper and tossed it to the garbage can, as nonchalant as can be.
A gasp passed across the room.
"Ah, this? this no good enough. This just demo" she said joyously and proceeded to create another not-good-enough pattern. Only this time, well prepared protests from a couple of women have prevented her from destroying that second piece. She gave us a "whatever" look and agreed to put it on the table rather that get rid of it.
And then came the best part of the evening!
See, Yoju didn't just show us what she can do. She came bearing a lot materials for us to play with, set four little bathtubs filled with the magic solution, and motioned that it's time for us to have a go at it. Inks, brushes, rice paper - it was all ours to experiment with.
And experiment we did! Ever seen a bunch of kindergarten kids doing finger painting?
Well, that's not as half the fun that went on there...
I did one piece, then waited garciouly for the lines to dwindle and went for a second. VallieM just kept going - I think she stopped at three just because Yoju had to go home... "It's fun!" she announced to LimaB and me who were thoroughly enjoying watching her.
I returned home extatic, burst through the door and showed The JohnnyB my breathtakingly straight-to-The-New-York-MOMA pieces of art.
"Amazing, no?", I hinted the need for feedback.
"Nope", was the answer.
Did I mention the Minnesotan ultra-honest breed he's coming from?
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Labels: Art, ArtPact, Creativity of Others, Wonders of The JohnnyB
oh no Johnnyb! He's so hard on you...I think it's way cool!
It's cool!
# posted by 
: 10/15/2008 6:55 PM
Rhonda, He's just honest. At least when he has a positive feedback, I know he really means it.
And yet - yes, this IS cool!! :-)
This sounds super fun. What was the geling agent, do you know?
I went to a printmaking workshop a few weeks ago and had such fun. I'm not obsessed with making prints. None of mine really turn out that great, but no matter! :)
I like what you made!
Suminagashi, I like the sound of that. I believe the next time I try to write drunk (which should be in a few minutes), I'm going to call it the art of spilled ink.
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It's cool!
: 10/15/2008 6:55 PM And yet - yes, this IS cool!! :-)
I went to a printmaking workshop a few weeks ago and had such fun. I'm not obsessed with making prints. None of mine really turn out that great, but no matter! :)
I like what you made!
