mertonparrish on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/mertonparrish/art/Sovereign-Seeker-182751221mertonparrish

Deviation Actions

mertonparrish's avatar

Sovereign Seeker

Published:
663 Views

Description

"Sovereign Seeker"

Inspired by Rock Series
Mixed media drawing inspired by naturally-occurring formations in marble and slate

The subjects for each of the drawings in this series were observed at my health spa, drawn in pencil while there, and enhanced/expanded in theme and form at home (and various other places). Then, each piece was inked, colorized and “backgrounded” (I think I just made up a word!) with various mixed media, from among the following:

colored pencil
gold leaf paint
gold leaf marker
Copic markers
Copic marker with aircan airbrush attachment

© Merton Parrish
All rights reserved

_______________________


NOTES ON THIS SERIES:

This has been a really interesting project. I have been working on it for months. As the general notes above state, I did begin this series by making drawings of what I “saw” in various figures in slate and marble at my health spa. It amazed me how much there was to see and imagine, just in naturally occurring formations in rock. Such interesting figures there to set the artist’s imagination awhirl!

I think I could go on drawing figures based on these marble and slate tiles for decades… and that is just at my health spa! So, what about all the rock in the world? And, what about all the other natural textures out there, like: grass, dirt, hillsides, tree bark, etc., etc., etc.?

I think, after working on this project, that the artist should never run out of things to draw. (So slap me, please, if I start whining in my journals, letters, or essays about being out of ideas for creating! Wink.)

Now after I drew the figures that I saw in the slate and marble (as if that was not interesting enough) it got really cool. I began expanding and enhancing the drawings and was amazed at how much further I could go with them. They could have been rather primitive style drawings that approximated the rough, imagination-inducing formations in the stone. That would have been neat and fine. But the drawings seemed to call out to be expanded and “become” what each wanted to become… which was, essentially, much more detailed and colorful.

I next inked the drawings and began to think about colorizing them in various media. I felt that the backgrounds were going to take a very long time and perhaps be tedious, since I did the drawings on fairly large paper (9 X 12). So, I went looking for some sort of tool that could quickly and interestingly (with some texture and possibility for variety) make the backgrounds. I did not want to have to get out paints and brushes, and I did not want to take all the time and effort to make the minutely textured colored pencil or pastel hand-drawn backgrounds that I have experimented with lately.

I tried watercolor pens with tubes. These allow one to put watercolor ink in the tubes and have brushes on their ends. Though this was better than getting out paint of any kind, it was still too messy and too much effort (and did not contain enough variety and texture in the result). I thought and researched some more, and lo and behold came across the wonderful Copic markers!

I tried using the brush tip of Copic markers, blenders etc., for my background on one of the drawings in the new series. This was fun and very neat. (Copic markers are miraculous, wonderful, and “da bomb” as the kids used to say). But still, my efforts were too time consuming.

Then, I saw in the display case of my local art store the wondrous, creative, reasonably inexpensive (though Copic markers are not, in and of themselves) Copic aircan airbrush attachment. I popped a marker into the display unit, tried it on the scrap paper, and the rest is history. What an amazing tool… perfect for VERY quick, varied, textured, blended, colorful backgrounds, with little or no mess or clean up. Pop in the marker, spray away, put the marker back, put in another… pshhhh, pssshhh, psssshhh, pssssssssssssssh! Such fun and such a terrific result. (I promise that Copic did not pay me to give this testimonial… Lol!)

And, (with no disrespect to digital art or artists at all) in using the Copic aircan airbrush, I feel that I am making art by putting (how shall I say it?) “things of the earth” on paper with my hands. Though I truly appreciate all the fantastic things computers can do (and am sure I am rather an old fuddy duddy for feeling this… lol) I do like that feeling of making art organically and traditionally.

I know, of course, that a tool is a tool, and I like (obviously from the amount of digitally altered stuff in my own gallery) using the computer when making, enhancing or putting the finishing touches on art. But nonetheless, that hand to tool to “organic stuff on paper” feeling is awesome.

Well, to sum it all up, this series, with its traditional and mixed media approach, naturally inspired but imagination-inducing subjects, potential for expansion and enhancement, and interesting old and new tools is a real watershed and revelation for me. I now have limitless, creativity-sparking sources for drawing series from nature, and a great new way/method to very quickly and creatively make series till I am too old and gnarled to put hand to paper (which after watching a recent PBS series on a lovely, vital, centenarian artist, I hope may never happen!)

Thank you higher self, Universe, muse.

I am happy and grateful.

(…which is a good thing for an artist and human to be!)

Peace, my fellow artists,
-Merton :)
Image size
1651x2306px 2.36 MB
© 2010 - 2024 mertonparrish
Comments21
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
RIVERKING's avatar
YOU CAN BE THE KING OF THE WORLD, AND I'LL JUST STICK TO BEING THE KING OF THE RIVER, HEHE.