( Maybe I should have photo-shopped in some green in these bottles for St Patrick's Day!? ) A few weeks ago our Tuesday morning breakfast meeting had a great discussion about "Stocking the Trout Pond" You may or may not be familiar with the term or heard it said in a different way. The artist must develop a reservoir of ideas from which to glean to produce works of art. We talked about how each of us go about filling our individual puddles; reading or borrowing art books & magazines - visiting galleries and museums - taking art classes and attending lectures. All very good ideas but you know, not anyone brought up the probably easiest and most obtainable, with just a pencil and paper, just Doodle! Do it every day. I just remembered seeing John Salminen's sketchbook with pages and pages of little thumbnail drawings. there were probably 30 to the page, no bigger than an oversize postage stamp, two or three values, and just shapes. He said he did these while other stuff was going on, his pencil and hand just kept moving across the page. Later, he may find one to develop into an abstract painting but it will most likely go through a few more incarnations in the final work.
(Bottle Doodle - 4 x 6 - pen & ink)
