“The sea and the sky and the horizon are such big motifs, that they are hard to describe with just pencil and paper. So, take the small details: a pebble, the skeletons of summer weeds, the crannies of rocks … blow them up, and make them the focus of the image. Use them to describe the feeling of the big elements.”
David Mankin, “Remembering in Paint” by Kate Reeve-Edwards, page 18
Sound simple doesn’t it? Follow Mankin’s underlying principle and you’ll produce abstract paintings as intriguing as his. Except it’s merely the underlying grammar; you still have to find the words (colours, shapes, marks) with which you build the poetry. And where do you find these? By trying, and trying again, until your fingers and wrists have vocabulary.
Love this. Concentrating on the small quiet details helps me block out the noise of the world and find peace. 😊
I’ve been painting individual pebbles again; as you say it’s a quiet and peaceful space.