Dear readers,
Today another painting on 15/20 cm, 6/8″.
Just painting freely, starting with ‘activating the canvas…’ with pencil and black marker, and then the liquid acrylics, and after that black, and a lot of crayons in different colours. Always have to laugh a bit about this expression ‘activating the canvas’, but of course it is how it works. Once there are scribbles and lines on the paper something else starts to emerge.
Bye! Have a nice weekend,
Simoone
Hi Dotty! Yes, I did not know the term either. I think Nancy Hillis was the first to point out (or maybe Flora Bowley?) Anyway: it is what I do every time I paint: or I throw some liquid paint around, or I start making marks with crayon, marker or paint.
Thanks for your comment, as always!
Simone, the term/concept of ‘activating the canvas’ is relatively new to me. I probably didn’t come to know of it until I began painting abstractly. It occurs to me as I write that it may have a variety of interpretations, but I think of it as the idea of just scribbling/painting any old anything onto the surface to ‘break in’ and to ‘activate’ response. Perhaps applying gesso, painting a color wash, and drawing a sketch also fall under the heading of activating a canvas?
In any case, I am glad you activated your own and got to work! I like the way the gray and white crayon played with each other here.