I recently visited an exhibition by John Hoyland at the Royal West of England Academy:

They also showed a 1970s BBC documentary about Hoyland where he was painting on a large canvas spontaneously over several days in his studio. I was inspired by his approach because I often over think and over plan my work and working like he did could help me to be more spontaneous. So I decided to set up a large canvas in my studio.

A few years ago during the COVID 19 pandemic, I bought a large roll of paper (Fabriano Accademia 200gsm paper by Fabriano SpA) but did not used any. So I decided to cut out a large piece, tape it to a board and cover it in gesso for some spontaneous painting work. Since the paper was only 200gsm, after covering it with gesso and the paper wrinkled, I had to face the fact that it was rather light weight for painting. I then wasn’t sure what to do with it and it became the elephant in the room and ‘stared back at me’. Then during one of our weekly MA sessions, we talked about how Duo Lingo, the language learning app, worked on a running streak to encourage ongoing progress. So I said to my colleagues that I would do a 21 day streak for the blank canvas. Since I said it aloud, I had to do it…

METHOD

The blank paper canvas was set up:

The idea of the ‘21 day streak’ was to do something on the canvas everyday (that I was at home) for 21 days, not to over think what to do. Just to make some mark, any mark. Below is what I did on day 1, splashes of diluted acrylic paint:

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Below is an iMotion movie capturing progress of the 21 days:

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Finished work:

Mixed media on paper. H135 x W105 cm

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REFLECTIONS

What I liked:

– I enjoyed the experiment and enjoyed responding to the canvas.

– The 21 day approach forced me to slow down the making process and not to rush to finish it as I am prone to doing.

– Doing something everyday was a good discipline, even if I didn’t have time or couldn’t think of anything to do, I had to do something such as drawing a few lines.

– Adhering to the ‘21 day streak’ process was like surrendering agency to the canvas; there was a strong sense of the to-ing and fro-ing of control between me and the canvas which was a new way of making for me. I liked it because it forced me to take time in my making. I needed this insight.

– I liked the Sumi-e painting collage of the fallen leaves.

– I liked the use of Chinese calligraphy.

What I didn’t like:

– I started off being more abstract and spontaneous. Then I started to do a collage by cutting out and pasting a crow from my Chinese painting work. That started the thought process about a composition. I resisted making it a properly composed figurative painting with crows, however, I felt that it became rather deliberately composed with the cut out crow being the turning point. I have mixed feelings about the meticulous style crow. It draws attention but perhaps too ‘meticulous’.

– I was disappointed that the canvas paper was too light weight for proper painting (I should have known). But I did enjoy having to take a more drawing approach and focusing on drawing style mark making which I have not done for a while, so all was not lost.

LEARNING

– Having a running streak is a good way to keep a discipline in a continuous making process.

– The crow was a turning point and then I sought out an ancient Chinese poem to fit the theme of the composition to bring the work to a conclusion which helped to bring the work to a neat finish. The poem talked about falling leaves which promoted the Sumi-e collage that I liked – but was that bordering on over thinking again? Am I over thinking about over thinking?! I think yes…

NEXT STEPS

I want to do another ‘21 day streak’ experiment. Having a blank canvas in the studio is a good idea for me to just ‘play’ spontaneously in parallel to my main line of work (making Cheongsam dress canvas paintings).

I will pay attention to not have a ‘meticulous crow’ moment too soon. I.e. not to put in an image that changes the course of the work too soon. Try to keep it loose, unplanned and spontaneous for as long as possible and surrender agency to the canvas.