This is how I create. I find something and I do something with it. It might be a napkin, a quote, an object, a person, or a combination of all of them. But whatever or whoever it is, I will transform it. I will combine, destroy, build, repurpose, take apart, hide, reveal and more. It’s what makes art fun and interesting for me. It’s how I think about things and people I see. I think about what I can do with them visually to say something of interest to me and others.
Here are some of the things I have transformed over the years. There are more, most of which you can see at the same flickr.com site that these links go to.
Rejection letters – a series I did in response to hundreds of rejection letters I got while applying for full-time teaching positions in the 80s and 90s.
Faces – A recent series I am doing on my iPad using my fingers (in most cases) to paint portraits based on photos and/or screenshots.
Mannequins and Games – Three Dimensional artwork that started with plastic or modeled mannequin heads that I turned into light boxes. Also a foosball table I turned into a self-portrait.
Bible – Drawings done in the bible I used from the mid-90s until about 2000 or so.
Book – I started with the book titled ‘Of Human Bondage’ and collaged into various pages photographs of the body in bondage.
Famous artwork – I started with a book on Impressionism and glued onto the images photos of body impressions.
Drawing, commentary and all artwork © 2016 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
Quote by James Russell Lowell, 1819-1891, American poet
I love seeing your artistic process on Periscope, so it’s great to read what gets your creative juices flowing. Great post, Marty!
Thanks Amiyrah, I hope it spurs creativity in others as well.
Love the colors!
thank you Brianne!
I love to hear about the process that others use!!! Sometimes I can’t figure out my process or my way to start
Thanks Sarah! It is hard to get started sometimes, isn’t it. I usually advise people who are having an issue with that to start as small as possible. Draw in a post it note, draw only stick figures. Write only a table of contents. Anything that has nothing in the way of it, just to get started. That is why I always have a sketchbook with me.
These are really cool. I love the bible drawing!
Thanks Andrea. I have drawn in church for decades now. Sometimes I am drawing real people, other times I am just making stuff up, and most of the time it’s a combination of the two.
So inspiring to hear this process. There are many days when I am just sitting at my computer with out much to say.
Yes, Esti, it’s a great way to start down the creative road, start with something, no matter what it is, and do something interesting with it!