being repelling moving apart

three brown ink wash faces with black ink outlines transfer printed words overlay
brown ink wash square with black outline face and word "Being"
closeup of middle ink wash square face with "repelling" transfer printed on top
right hand ink wash square face with "moving apart" transfer printed over

Posting another mini-art experiment that turned out better than I expected – doing some ink washes and drawings before overlaying the transfer print. There is a part of me that feels I should also post some failed experiments – because that is the unvarnished truth: many don’t turn out. These days, because of all the transfer printing I’m doing, the transfer fails completely or pulls off the under-layers or dries really weird.

I think about the highly edited nature of social media and the illusion it gives of perfection – but then the other side of my brain is just so happy when something works that it says “No, but show that one! Blargh on the ones in the recycle bin!” So, just know that the truth is that experiments fail as often as they work (and if we shift to science, please know that 90% or more of experiments in the lab fail) and next week I’ll pluck up some courage to post some failures too!

7 comments

  1. No one but my critique partners (and many times not even them) get to see my awful failed writing experiments. So I understand this urge to only show what you’re pleased with. However, what Claudia said is true, sometimes our “failures” are not seen as failures by others. Art is such a slippery wonderful thing!

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    1. One of my instructors in graduate school was coaching us on public speaking and he was talking about how sometimes a researcher will stop in the middle of a presentation and say, “Oh, that’s not what I meant to say.” He threw his hands in the air, “Nobody in the audience knew what you meant to say! Just keep going! They’re not in your head! They’ll think it’s exactly what you wanted to say!” 😀

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  2. I agree with Claudia. Often I’ll look at something I put in the discard pile at a later date and it looks completely different.
    But these are wonderful. I especially like that brown–it’s a color I like a lot but don’t use often. (K)

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    1. For sure – I’ve had that experience a few times lately – sorting through piles of drawings and “discards” and seeing them with fresh eyes.

      Thank you! It’s a walnut ink – I”m always excited to discover it on the shelf again!

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    1. That rings true for me as well – I don’t always know what I have, still clinging to the picture in my mind. Going through my art “archives” has shown me my opinion of my work often changes when I get a little distance.

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