Dmitry Shostakovich (1906–1975)
Shostakovich’s contemporaries do not recall seeing him working, at least not in the traditional sense. The Russian composer was able to conceptualize a new work entirely in his head, and then write it down with extreme rapidity—if uninterrupted, he could average twenty or thirty pages of score a day, making virtually no corrections as he went.
But this feat was apparently preceded by hours or days of mental composition—during which he “appeared to be a man of great inner tensions,” the musicologist Alexei Ikonnikov observed, “with his continually moving, ‘speaking’ hands, which were never at rest.”
Shostakovich himself was afraid that perhaps he worked too fast. “I worry about the lightning speed with which I compose,” he confessed in a letter to a friend. Undoubtedly this is bad. One shouldn’t compose as quickly as I do. Composition is a serious process, and in the words of a ballerina friend of mine, “You can’t keep going at a gallop.” I compose with diabolical speed and can’t stop myself.… It is exhausting, rather unpleasant, and at the end of the day you lack any confidence in the result. But I can’t rid myself of the bad habit.
- From Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey
#dailyrituals #inktober #shostakovich @masoncurrey
Next up is the finalized sketch. Specifically when I'm working on prints and commissions I do a detailed final sketch. It makes the inking/painting process a lot faster.
Are the places of your dreams real? Will we ever make it there? Only the people who are there now, know. (Working on a big art project, this is a small side drawing I did while in a drawers block)
I have found my new love in playing with the Glass Ink Pen where I can easily achieve specific lines that are hard to make with a regular pen. Here I am working to gain confidence in my permanent line work where I can't erase every second. I am also working to gain experience in cross hatching. which is very difficult.
I first bought some cheap soft pastels back in 2018 and did a couple of sketches. I bought a nice set of Rembrandt pastels a few months later — didn't use them. I bought some pastel pads, none if which seemed right. September 2020, I bought a couple more sets of bargain pastels and tried a couple of pieces — no good, still couldn't bring myself to use them. Jess bought me pastel pencils for Christmas — I was too scared to use them. I even bought a pad of Pastelmat which is supposed to be THE paper to use for pastel paintings in January. I was too scared to use that as well!
FINALLY, after a few unsuccessful attempts at working with watercolour (brush issues), I cast aside my fear and thought I'd mess around with pastels. Some time later, and this was the result. I've finally broken through my pastel fear-barrier.
I've got to say, I love soft pastels and I'm excited about doing more pieces in this medium.
The painting im working on is taking a lot more time than i expected, so here is one i painted last winther. I love Beatrix Potters paintings where the animals look realistic, but they wear miniature clothing and behave humanlike.
The materials that Meir uses in her works are not of the refined and so she is called an “arte povere” artist. At times she describes her work as someone dealing in alchemy - work develops as in a trial laboratory with different techniques and materials. She says, “ at times the artistic work process is a sort of puzzle demanding the filling in of all the empty squares “.
Some of her work focuses on women, and they incorporate criticism and cultural protest.
Meir has strong opinions about recycling and environmental protection that is represented in her works by use of materials and shapes. In her work she reacts to contemporary art that communicates with the eco system, waste, and she also searches for different worlds. Her works are made up of layers upon colorful layers that when we look at them it becomes clear that the mound of waste she chose is not coincidental. It actually becomes a colorful kaleidoscope of utopia.
Jaffa Meir is a multifaceted, autodidact artist working in painting, sculpture, photography, product design, carpets and furniture, painting on textile, and computer graphics.
The structural composition of some of the works is influenced also by her many years of working in the architects’ office.
Meir also worked in the developing of ideas within the field of ecosystems and recycling for factories such as Coca Cola, and during this process came up with ideas for designing parks and public game spaces using industrial waste products.
So if any of y’all have watched RuPaul sorry if I am spoiling it for you. It’s really great. I was told to make Appa from Avatar. Working on it @rayedrgn ! Okay so here it is! I traced just to get shapes then I colored it. Um I guess that’s it?
I started messing about with line and wash. I really enjoyed the speed and looseness of working on this piece. In hindsight, I'm wondering if it would be worth working on a larger, more considered version as there is quite a lot of nice texture that is missing here. Pen & watercolour on watercolour paper (4x6").
