unforseeable effect

starting another class tomorrow, drawing interior public spaces in new york city, that might not be the exact title, but you get it, a drawing class. not so long ago was talking to katharine about why. big part of my answer was "i don't know but i want to." anyway, that perspective drawing class last year, today it changed what i'm doing and how i do it. i've done a lot of projects involving rectangles or grids of some sort, usually painting, going all the way back, almost, as long as i've been painting - certainly in the nineties in tokyo there were a lot of grids in my work. i didn't see them that way, to me they were rectangles. anyway, never once did i use a ruler or a straightedge or a pencil or block anything out. as a painter i've always just stuck to paint, not drawing underneath, not lining out or outlining or going around edges much if at all, painting should come from the center so i'll start everything from the center, that has pretty much been my attitude.

so, that color study piece i'm about to embark on, was thinking about how precise i wanted it to match up, how it might be more interesting but definitely more work later on to just haphazardly paint a square, another square, another square, and see if they come out uniform, or try to see how uniform i can get them - anyway that's what i'd usually do. but i want to see that piece. and i don't want to spend days jiggering little movie clips in flash or whatever software it ends up being and matching them up. it might look more "organic" or you might see my "hand" a bit more, but basically i want this to be a functional color study and i'd rather realize it than futz around either painting over and over to get the grid right or coaxing video clips into specifically picky locations. so, i got out my square with the straight edge, and the tape measure, and i drew a grid.




























which never would have happened if i hadn't taken that other class. this piece is going to be "flat" and perspective is not going to be a consideration, but drawing a grid or using a square or a straight edge or measuring, none of those things would ever had occurred to me if i hadn't taken that class. didn't have the equipment anyway, was resisted getting it until i realized i wasn't getting any feedback from the teacher without it. so it's already had an effect on how i work, how i think, on my practice.

i didn't really know why i was taking that class either. there were a few vague ideas, i don't want to get into them because i want to go to sleep, but - never would have thought i'd end up painting inside lines. so even if i'm not using what i learned (perspective) i'm using what i learned (tools, precision, efficiency).