How to Make Art While Traveling
Collage Study
Hello Fellow Artists and Art Lovers!
I am happy to report that as this blog posts publishes, I am traveling. It’s something I haven’t gotten to do a lot of in recent time but, I’m finally packed and going places. It’s not anything crazy and not international - but it’s warmer and very different from where I live in Northwestern New Jersey.
Because we are driving, I was able to pack a few art supplies so I could play during the restful hours and evenings. I decided to make myself a 100 piece project based on a well known story. It goes something like this. There was a professor of ceramics who divided his class in half. To one half he said “I want you to make one pot. It must be perfect and the best pot you’ve ever made. A perfect pot will get you an A.” And to the other half of the class he said “I want you to make 100 pots. They can be any size, shape or design you want. If you make 100 pots, you will get an A. If you make 90 pots, you will get a B. Eighty pots equals a C and so on.” Guess who made the best pot? Yup. The students who made 100 pots. They weren’t paralyzed by the thought of perfection or of having to be perfect on the first try.
With this story in mind, I decided that I would do a 100 piece project. I won’t get bogged down with any one piece. What am I trying to accomplish? I am working on composition. How one piece affects every other piece of a composition. Here’s what I packed. What am I avoiding? The pressure to make them in 100 days. Why stop myself if I’m on a roll? Why work myself if I’m on the road - just make 100 and I know I will understand composition better. You can follow me on Instagram @claudeblarson if you want to see my progress.
A collection of collage papers, 100 pieces of Bristol paper cut square and painted various colors (you can use white too), scissors, glue stick, matte medium, brushes, credit cards for scraping them into place and some art guard for my hands.
I don’t know about you but, there is an abundance of shipping boxes at my house. So I picked one that fit everything easily. And…
Just for good measure and because I had the space, I added water soluble crayons, various pencils and my Stabilo Woody pencils. I can fix the water soluble marks with matte medium if necessary.
I haven’t given my clothes as much thought or effort as this, but then which is more important? I’ll be seeing you from the road. Wherever you are, I wish you a creative day!
Claude
Collage Study
It doesn’t take a lot to make something interesting. In fact, I love negative space and highlighting the few shapes rather than visual overwhelm.
