Above: The third "sketchy" and splattered dog. I continued using the same gouache colors and the Faber-Castell Pitt Artist's Calligraphy Pen. This is also in my handmade Arches Text Wove/Velin Arches journal that is approx. 6 x 8 inches. Click on the image to view an enlargement.
(See the previous two days for the first and second post on this theme/series.)
Working in a series like this on one theme gives you an opportunity to work with one medium in an intense way and get immediate feedback that is reinforced with more feedback. You can then act upon that feedback immediately. Working with a theme, such as a certain stylistic approach, and working with that theme in a rapid fire series done in the same sitting, allows you to weed out quickly what works and what doesn't work. Or it allows you to find a alternate approach to the one you're currently employing. Or it simply allows you more fun.
Note: You can choose to work with a restricted selection of media instead of one medium, or work with anything that is at hand. You get to define the task.
It can also tell you something about your own state of mind at the time of execution. With the three images I've shown you over the last few days you can see how the first image was my warm up, the second was what I consider my "nailing it" moment, and this third image is me pushing past the success of the second image to see what else I can do with the same technique and colors. I can see how I am getting tired at this point (it was 11:30 by this time) and even looser (which is a good thing for me). I'm also interested in being even more messy with the paints as they overlap on the body.
Working like this also allows you some focused time working with a limited palette. I could have put new paint out before beginning this sketch, but it was late, I knew it would be my final sketch, and I wanted to see what messes I could make.
A lot of people write to me expressing concerns about "wasting paper and paints." I always encourage them to do something like this because as you can see, I'm not concerned in the least about "wasting" anything. I'm using my time to experiment and I'm using up paint that was already on the palette. And as for the paper, well, for me journal pages are to be used and experimented on, which is the exact opposite of waste. So if you have issues about "waste" try a series to snap yourself out of it and get on to the learning you crave.
I feel that these three sketches have given me a lot of information and warant additional exploration in the future.
