In my last post, I mentioned my plan to make good use of the body of work I have accumulated as a result last year’s six-word story challenge. I painted my first six-word painting a little over a month ago. Here is the second: She unplugged and instantly felt better. True story : )
My Top Nine six-word stories ~ my favourites selected from a grand total of 134 word+art posts created last year for Instagram which, in turn, came from 365 stories created using the Page Flutter word prompts. For those who may be interested, I’ve gathered all of my word+art stories into a collection on Pinterest.
What a fantastic and rewarding challenge this has been! And even though I won’t be carrying on with a daily writing challenge in 2019, I do plan to make good use of my six-word stories. But more about that in my next post : )
Small painting : big title (yes, another six-word story).
I’ve been experimenting with my six-word stories again. Several months ago I created a couple of small mixed media versions by transferring printed words onto painted canvases. This time I’ve painted the words so that they are an integral part of an abstract landscape. I’m so pleased with the result that I’m already planning the next one…
These six-word stories were prompted by the Page Flutter Six-Word Story Challenge. I’m also posting a few favourites on Instagram. The background is a detail of a new work in progress.
26. Comfort food and junk TV. Perfect : )
27. Favourite family recipe? Simply being together.
28. Red or white for girls’ night? [as long as it has bubbles]
29. Their history fell between the cracks. [it’s all water under the bridge]
30. Our family motto: where’s the cat? [“here, puss puss puss puss puss”…]
1. Mum’s salmon mornay has become tradition.
2. The first night… silent and holy.
[November/December prompts: comfort food, family recipe, girls’ night, bygones, family motto, tradition, first night]
In the words of painter Adam Wolpert…
“Whenever I try to finish a painting by carefully cleaning up all the parts—removing smudges, perfecting the drawing, spiffing and polishing—as I work, the spirit slowly drains out of it. This approach to finishing leaves me unsatisfied and leads to my either abandoning the painting before it is complete or just stopping and calling it “finished” in spite of my dissatisfaction. I know that Nature is not polished and uniform, all clear, clean and tidy, but raw and variable, messy, ambiguous, and indefinite. And above all, nature is dynamic. It stands to reason that a painting of Nature must somehow include these qualities. What if focusing on details and formal accuracy won’t ever get me there?”
“What if I just focus on representing the underlying essence of my subject and my relationship to, and feeling about, that essence?….Perhaps the best way to finish a painting is to try to move the subject ever more towards that state. I know when that character is developing in my painting because the image inspires that particular feeling I have when I stand before it in Nature. I know to keep working as long as I can make something more like its essential self. I know I need to stop as the image begins to move away from itself and become something else. Mysteriously, sometimes this process goes on for many days and even weeks as I devote hour after hour to the piece, other times I breathe a painting into being in a few hours, almost effortlessly, and only need the good sense to leave it alone (which is surprisingly difficult sometimes). So perhaps, in this way, my practice of finishing can be guided by Nature herself.”
Anna Cull ~ Art & Music 