Organized Chaos

My recipe for interesting image making requires both a cup of chaos and an equal measure of organization. I’m not talking the organization of the material world - the printer isn’t about to run out of ink, there are paper towels, there are enough empty shelves on which to dry gesso covered substrate and the files are backed up on the computer. I’m talking about the image making itself. Planning, fore-thought - that  kind of organization.  You have to do a certain amount of problem defining and planning - my focal point is at too equal a value with the background; I’m going to lighten the background so that the focal point can be seen better. This area in the image is boring - how can I make it more lively? At the same time the chaos is needed for new ideas and new approaches  to problems. If there isn’t a component of chaos  and risk taking, you just solve the visual problems the same way each time. But if you have too much chaos, then. . .  well you know what happens: a big, disorganized mess.

So this idea of organized chaos has been with me for a long time. It is really how I organize both my living and my work spaces. I like to have a contained area, usually a table top or shelf or drawer which is always in a state of chaos. There can’t always be a place for everything because activities are in flux. I pull out a book about Klimt and stack it beside my colour tests and they are piled on top of my acrylic inks which are balanced precariously on the rolls of masking tape. This is the current chaos. As the project unfolds, the chaos increases. But, I contain it. Keep it to one area and keep everything else orderly.

How organized chaos plays out between digital and analog is very interesting. I can be much more chaotic (read: risk-taking, daring, but also unfocused & vague) in digital than in analog. Of course there is no Undo button in analog. I paint, then print, then paint again. That second go of painting needs to be done very carefully or I mess up the printed part. I need to see and define the problems more clearly. At the same time, my years of digital experience come into play. I want to desaturate that area of the image - how do I do that with paint without darkening the image?  In digital the elements of design can all be separated from one another more easily than in analog. I can change the value of a colour without changing the colour itself. In analog my intent has to be clearer. What I like about working in both is that I bring lessons back and forth from one to the other.