Purposeless Play

Purposeless play -- this play is an affirmation of life -- not an attempt to bring order out of chaos nor to suggest improvement in creation.  but simply a way of waking up to the very life we are living, which is so excellent once one gets one's mind and desires out of the way and lets it act of its own accord.
                                        — John Cage

Purposeless Play, for John Cage, was a way of life.  Do you know of him?  He made his mark on American avante garde music of the 1960s, which is where I first knew of him, but he did not limit himself to a single medium.  All of the creative world was his playground, and his lists of accomplishments is long and delightfully varied.  He is someone you love or hate, no middle ground possible with him!

I like his idea of Purposeless Play.  Today I will take you along with me on a trip to my studio, and we shall indulge in a little soul-improving, Purposeless Play.  Bring your teacup or mug and Let us go then, you and I . . .  (sorry, I have just finished reading The Weird Sisters, and while I do not eschew Shakespeare, I choose T.S. Eliot as my muse).  Further, do not ask, "What is it?"  Let us go and make our visit.


Ahem.

Watercolor play today.  I used a tutorial by Carla Sonheim on her blog "Snowball Journals" to play at painting flowers.  See this interesting process here.  February 22, 2012 is the posting date.

Step one was to put blobs of paint on paper, Letting it dry completely.  I used a long piece of landscape watercolor paper and a watercolor postcard (for my sister).  Step two was to paint around the blobs with gesso, cutting back into the gesso with the pointed end of the paintbrush handle, making textured circles around the blobs of color.  I am fascinated by the texture the gesso makes above the blobs of color.

Then, to the gym for Yoga Stretch exercise class while everything dried.

After lunch and a shower, back to the Studio.  Steps three forward involved drawing out the flowers and creating a background, both of which I did with pencil.  Carla has a marvelous loose, flowing style, and I tend to over work and add little bits of color that mix at a distance.  I could not resist pulling out colored pencils, dye pencils, and graphitint pencils as well as a bit of fine pen for this.  These are my results:

All the time I was working, I had fabric and thread on my mind.  I can't help it; I am hard wired to stitch!  I have some ideas about using this "purposeless play" for stitching some loose, not-a-bit-like-reality flowers (I always think of those sorts of flowers as "Fantasy Flowers From A Far Planet").  Will check back in with results.