I was having a minor meltdown the other day, and looked through some notes I had written to myself recently. I vaguely remembered making notes on What To Do in a meltdown. I found this note:
Something about making marks with crayons to see what emerges. Making marks all day on a stack or a roll of cheap drawing paper. Mining whatever is in there, the subconscious, the hand and eye, or the hand without the eye.
So I got out my crayons (Caran d'Ache NeoColor II) and started scribbling furiously over marks I had made with paint. Layering the crayon marks and less frantic lines in paint drew me back into the process.
18"x24", acrylic and crayon on paper 
18"x24", acrylic, graphite, and crayon on paper 
18"x24", acrylic, graphite, and crayon on paper 
18"x24", acrylic, graphite, and crayon on paper
Of course, the Caran d'Ache crayons are water soluble, so they can smear when you paint over them. My trick is to apply a GENTLE coat of matte medium or matte acrylic gel to the crayon marks, CONTROL the smear, and let it dry completely before painting over. For graphite scribbling I like Lyra non-water-soluble graphite crayons. I also use ordinary pencils. You could add colored pencils and paint markers to this scribbling tool box. Avoid Sharpie Permanent Markers (they will bleed through subsequent layers of paint), and oil pastels (unless they are the last layer - they will not adhere to subsequent layers of acrylic paint). DO explore chalk pastels, charcoal (use fixative, outdoors, between layers), and various kinds of brushes with your acrylic paint. Golden High Flow acrylics and be fun to scribble with too, especially opaque ones. You can mix Titanium White High Flow into other colors to make them more opaque and lighten the value. Let each layer dry before adding more marks when using wet media. Work on several at one time.
Here are a few examples of last week's scribbles:
Black High Flow Paint applied with a brush. Spray paint on the left (black) 
Black spray paint, turquoise crayon 
Paint scribbles applied with brush and palette knife
This feels like Scribbles Part 2. You can see some of my 2021 scribbles on this page, along with some stripes and florals. One of the many themes or explorations I seem to circle back to is this layering of marks. Great way to loosen up, and lots there to discover.
I love this post! I frequently scribble with anger and frustration when I'm losing the plot and have a bunch of crayons, tempera sticks, Lyra graphite crayons etc. Some great ideas come out of it and it really does help. These are beautiful and expressive.
ReplyDeleteYES... I also recently had a meltdown and took a break to do some nurturing work for myself. SO IMPORTANT!
ReplyDeleteHi Jane,
ReplyDeleteI love this process and these results! The energy and layers of color really smacked me in the face. I also love the ones further down the page with more space between the marks. You have given me some ideas. Thanks!
This is probably just what I need - I'll do it today. I have been away for a couple of weeks, not able to paint in those locations, and I have been having trouble getting back into the "groove". Maybe this exercise will help. Thanks Jane!
ReplyDeleteLove this!
ReplyDeleteScribbles with a vengeance and a purpose . . . and then purposefully. Purposeful scribbling sounds like a contradiction in terms but why not? Scribbles in such proportions are not something I’m comfortable doing so that’s exactly what I’m going to do as I’ve been getting a little tentative.
ReplyDeletewhen i was a very little girl, my neighbor friend Ann Leonard taught what i now consider one of my" first artistic sessions" . we scribbled all over a paper with a black crayon leaving white spaces of random size. tlater we filled in areas with color crayons. that reminds me i have always loved stained glass work. i took a class once and still have the lotus blossom i made over 50 years ago...
ReplyDeleteI am amazed at what you (Jane) can do with simple materials. Reading this I have been inspired to set up an area just for this sort of thing, a space that won't get filled up with ongoing projects but is just for this kinetic sort of working and experimentation. Thanks for this.
ReplyDeleteMaking abstract art is like exploring the universe -- the ways of doing it can never possibly be exhausted -- thanks (as always) for the reminder and the evidence ❤️
ReplyDeleteAw, you have these days, too? I'm shocked! Thank you for keeping it real!
ReplyDeleteI love the scribbles! I can see that they would banish a bad day with ease. This will be next on my agenda ... or sooner depending on how I feel.
ReplyDelete