05 March 2008

Let's Talk About Process

"Talking about music is like dancing about architecture."
-Steve Martin


There is too much talking sometimes and not enough doing. What ever happened to getting your hands dirty and making things? I think too much. I am very much aware of this, so it is good when I finally get out of my head and onto a surface.

I am becoming increasingly aware of how important my process is to my work. I am not quite at "the process as the work" stage (nor do I think I want to get there). But I have become more in tune with how I work, which begins to inform the work itself.

My grounds (that is the surface on which I work) are almost more important than the drawing or the composition. Developing the ground is a very organic process. It starts with a lot of playing around with elements even before I glue them down.

I hesitate to call myself a collage artist because I appropriate surfaces and not images. The ephemera becomes disconnected from its original context (and thus much more interesting to me). I am like a magpie when it comes to collecting ephemera. My eyes are always scanning the sidewalks and ground for lost and forgotten fragments. Plus used bookstores and antique shops are always good.

I layer color, texture, and linework with whatever materials I can get my hands on. My weapons of choice are gouache, watercolor, salt, Quink, bleach, and Black Magic Ink (very specifically).

I usually don't know how the piece will end up when I begin the whole process. Also, I create several grounds for each individual piece. I create and then edit multiples of the same idea. Eventually (and somewhat miraculously) I end up with a finished piece.

And I always work barefoot.

1 comment:

Amanda Laurel Atkins said...

Wonderful process, Miss Castelli.