Celtic keys and Fibonacci sequence - 2025 05 30

 

Highlighter pen, pen and ink, pencil crayon on paper - 81/2" x 10"

Last evening we sat at the dining room table, me and my friend, Louise. She was practicing drawing with brush and watercolour in shades of grey. I was playing with patterns and sequence in shades of blue, green and violet.

As we worked on our drawings we talked about our week, the latest developments, embarrassments, frustrations and victories. I shared new songs, playing imperfectly to convey melodies, lyrics and imagery floating up to the surface in response to life events.

My pattern making was also imperfect. There are errors of repetition and sequence. I couldn't remember exactly how the key design worked so I improvised my own based on what I remembered. I would make structural rules for myself and then, lost in conversation, forget what they were and break the rule. Noticing I had broken the rule and thus set a new rule, I would shrug and continue drawing, curious to see how the drawing was going to turn out. 

When I am drawing, I am sitting up close to the picture. I am immersed in my process and remembering what I set for my drawing challenge. It is only after we say, "Times up, put down your pens", that I step back and look at the picture with a wider perspective. It is this moment of comprehension, this moment of surprise, when I give myself some distance from the intensity of close work, that I see new possibilities or new understandings. 

My understanding of life and my place in it is comprised of moving between both points of view, the concentration and detail of close work, and the appreciation of the big picture and how things fit together that I couldn't see before.

This modest little drawing, seen from across the room, appears to be floating, to have a wrinkle in it's centre. Like a carpet, a carpet floating in space flexing in the middle. 

The drawing isn't finished, there are more layers to add. For me, the best drawings share insights with each layer added. From the beginning to the end, I am learning new ways of appreciating what it means to be alive, to be creative, and to make sense of the world.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Creative Works - 2025 01 24

Image
  Acrylic ink and brush, glass pen, pen and ink on paper 9" x 6" Last evening my neighbour, and friend, Louise, came over for a drawing session. For many years we have passed each other on the street, this was our first time sitting down together to draw. I laid out a selection of papers, brushes, graphite, glass pens, ink pens, and acrylic inks on the dining room table. We used a collection of glass shot glasses for mixing ink washes and tones.  We started at 7 pm and finally wrapped up at 10 pm.  I was surprised by the drawing I made. It is a combination of techniques I have been exploring since I first started drawing in my late teens. A descriptive, dynamic contour line giving a sense of the edge of form, giving definition for a form to emerge. Symbolic markings of triangles, circles and short lines. Organic tracings of splash marks, their reach extending into exploratory threads. Tonal washes that give substance to shapes and definition between the emergence of shape...
Read more

Magic and Mark-making - 2025 03 20

Image
  Pencil crayon, pen and ink, acrylic ink on paper, 6 1/2" x 5" Last night I decided to stay home and work on my drawing instead of going out to take part in an evening with the Vancouver Folk Song Society.  It was hard to make the choice, because both of these activities are my contribution to the antidote for authoritarianism and feel equally important.  I had a key pattern in progress and I was ready to put the third, final layer of lines, colour and washes. I was curious to see how it would turn out and that is where I put my energy. In his book, "Celtic art: The methods of construction", George Bain has a chapter on Key Patterns. I have added information from his book to give background about the meaning and significance of key pattern design. Some Chinese key patterns belong to periods prior to BC 1,000. In the British Museum there is an Egyptian carving showing a key pattern and interlacing dating BC 3500 - BC 3000. Square and diagonal key patterns engraved o...
Read more

Step pattern - 2025 03 04

Image
  Pen and ink, ink wash on paper - 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" The last time I worked with Celtic knots I was extricating myself from an abusive domestic situation. I was ending an eighteen year marriage to an emotionally abusive husband. I have been triggered by the current situation in the US and global geopolitics, especially Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine’s fight for sovereignty. Puzzling out the Celtic knot and step patterns helps me transcend a state of traumatic brain injury and shift my creative problem solving back into recovering the agency, autonomy and empowerment I possess. The step pattern provides structure and infinite variation in expression. The basic structure of the step pattern is a grid subdivided by a pre-determined number. In the case of this drawing, I was experimenting with the grid subdivided into increments of five. This resulted in the step pattern based on five shapes. In this drawing the grid has been laid out by hand. There is an organic variance...
Read more