2. Carpet
In this blog post I’ll be sharing my process behind my painting named The Carpet. Inspired by the wonderful book A Line Made By Walking by Sara Baume. My dad was the first person to recommend this book to me, though warning me that it might be ‘too close to home’ for me, a failing artist (his words). After assuring him that I did know a little bit about what I was doing, I did connect to a lot of the inner artist struggle of the book’s protagonist (but I didn’t tell Daddio that one). This was one of those books where I highlight every other sentence. It’s written so beautifully that it was no surprise I felt inspired to paint from it.
The Line.
The line that inspired me from this book is this one;
‘A soft, pink clock nobody remembered to wind. I go to my grandmother’s bedroom and lie down in the place where her hospice bed used to be, on the patch where the dog died. I lay my cheek against the floor. I smell the carpet.’
The Wobbly Lines (Sketches) AND the very Messy Bit (Paint & Ink).
I had such a clear idea of what I wanted for this ‘simple’ piece, but the painting process turned out to be a saga. I spent all day repeating the same thing over and over again and was on the verge of giving up, until the final piece happened. Yet, I’m hesitant to call anything I do a mistake and in an attempt to prove it, I’m going to share them all with you. What you see below is many many attempts of trying to do the same thing over and over, and of course one of the first things I tried (ink) ended up being used for the final piece.
First attempts with ink and choosing colours way too early.
Second attempt looking like an attempt at the robot. No. I should have drawn much more before I wasted all my paints this day.
And huzzah I went back to drawing with graphite for a moment. Getting slightly better but still, not the one.
I go back to drawing and I’m really happy with this - finally! And so I think let’s waste some more paint, why not? Without thinking anything through? Sure!
Some things I like - the shadow behind the arm, the limbs. Things I dislike - the colours and how some bits look loose (the background wash) and others look too forced (the blanket squares and the shaded leg).
At this point, I gave up on the idea and decided to draw a bungalow inspired by the story on Turbine Hill. Cute but it didn’t summarise the book for me. Then I had a break and ate my dinner, deflated.
THEN THIS HAPPENED. Nothing-y at first yes, but it helped me solve the washy background versus the overworked figure conundrum (a common conundrum…a commonundrum if you will). Oh and INK! Of course! Although the lines here were still too bold. With this mini revelation and a full tummy, I couldn’t help but give it another go with paint.
HUZZAH! We got there in the end. This is more what I had in mind, not exactly, but I’m almost happier with in that the version I had in my brain.
Here’s what I like about it and why;
I like the idea that the external surroundings are dark, almost disconnected to the character.
The dog silhouette is white and the line isn’t smooth. I was intending on this showing some ghostly quality.
The minimal colour palette and the somewhat unsaturated feel.
The line work with black ink, achieved by using the wrong side of a paintbrush (the wooden handle!).
Scanned and edited in Photoshop.
As I only exist in my own brain, I have no idea if any of that makes sense but I hope it does. If it doesn’t feel free to chat with me about it and ask me any questions!
Thank you for reading & I’ll catch ya next time.
JB x
