A few days ago, I was inspired to paint a new mixed media painting series called Quantum Poetica.
I have finished three acrylic paintings so far.
The first in the series is called “Actions Birth Sound”:
It is a well-known fact that orange is one of my many favorite colors. For this piece, I did not start out with an orange palette in mind. I originally thought, considering the words, this painting would be a stark black with a lone strike of red. But I love how calm this piece is, with hints of force (energy) (violence) underscoring each sound/word. I am still wondering about the inked individual letters–i, i t, u–and remain delightfully confused by their mysterious appearance.
One of my favorite things about creating Typewriter Poetry based paintings is the ability to play with spacing between words. In this way, the simple–the quantum–becomes divine. Instead of a whole book, an entire essay, a tweet, a text, a poem…I get to balance the visuals of paint and color and space with just a few words, a few letters, a few sounds.
It is nice to have pieces of work I can look back at without instantly cringing. As much as I love traditional poetry, I critique each poem constantly, and have rarely been satisfied with any poem I have managed to shape.
This is not the case with painting. I love the intuitive flow of abstract form mingling with concrete poetics. The balance of space and color and weight feels like a much freer exchange…almost as though the vision for the painting, forever in wondrous flux, manages to retain its weightlessness, its lightness.
One of the first Typewriter Poetry paintings I made was “Lady Palabra.” It is the image I still use on all my artist/business cards. I like the chaotic mix of cool violets, how it seems to contain one of my favorite lines: she sings the molecular blues.
Thanks for reading my normally private reflections on the creative process. If you have a moment to comment or send me an email, I would love to hear your thoughts.
In the meantime, you can view the rest of my paintings in the Typewriter Poetry shop, and even place an order for the original canvas or a high-resolution print: