Wallace Koopmans Artlog

While having an idea is great, if you are going to share it with others at some instant you have to put it out there.  Well I have an idea and that is to create some images that are comprised entirely of buttons.  The idea of going straight into some monumental work without figuring out how it will all come together is not likely to come close to my vision.   To start off I thought I would do a small scale piece.  So what did I learn?  I need to work on a larger scale.  Each button is like a pixel and the more pixels the more detail.  The other thing is that perhaps I was a bit too subtle with the button in relation to the background.  No not any particular button but the button that is made from the other buttons.  “Fascinating” you say yes “Fastening” I say.

I created this sketch with the idea of making a print, but as with many things in the end it will go no further.  This isn’t a bad thing it’s just part of the process.  What would be wrong would be to continue, knowing that I wouldn’t be pleased with the result.

A quick sketch of an Olympus Trip 35 that I did previously.  I enjoy doing loose sketches like this because they really only require a pen and a peice of paper.  It also goes allong with the series of paintings I’m working on.

I’ve had these pencil crayons for nearly twenty years now.  By all rights they should be little nubs or have been completely consumed in the process of creating art.  I can’t completely explain the pleasure I derive from just having them.  I love the colours and the softness of the mark they make on paper, but mostly I cherish them because they were a gift.  Not just the gift of them as an object but what they symbolize, the support of my parents whatever I choose to do.  Perhaps I took this for granted at the time but I can always pull these out to remind me of their wonderful gift.

I’ve been using my graphics tablet mostly for photo editing but am now giving sketching with it a try.  I can see that looking at the screen while drawing is very different from drawing on paper where the mark is created at the point you are looking at.  My technique will need more work and as yet I haven’t found the settings which mimic a pen adequately.

The plate is now ready for proofing, agian when time allows.

In order to become accustomed to writing about my art, I thought I would post about the work I have just started. I am going to use drypoint, an intaglio method that I haven’t used before to create this print. The initial sketch shows some of my thoughts about the composition. These are all separate details that I saw while cross country skiing on the Trans Canada trail over the holiday’s and I have brought them together to create an image that for me evokes a sense of the cold and the interaction of the horse and the man in the vast field. The next step will be to lay the composition out on the zinc plate and then to do the drawing. (Of course the layout will be a mirror image.)