Good morning! Sending lots of best wishes! May love and laughter find you!

~More on Composing Shibui~

I am thinking of my own processes of creating Shibui. What I look for first. The found images and what their relationships might be means developing a sense of how they interact with each other. What each island of shapes to become a form means that these become something. From there? What other islands of forms can become something? Is there a relationship I can develop? Whatever the form what part does it have in the ending result. Keeping this in mind I work the foundation. I think of colors and how they contribute to the finished Shibui. The goal is to draw the viewer in and hold his or her interest; it is also to create something magical and pleasing. Shibui’s tend to have these qualities. So, a pleasing creation!

Pictures need a sound foundation. That is why it is important to take the time with a Shibui foundation. Action art or action painting is “What it is!” And so, imagination needs to be involved. Imagination and intuition, as well as letting go of control. It is letting yourself respond like a child to shape. It is like finding something in the clouds or a stain. Children___ creative minds easily fall into this wonder. It is allowing something of the world around you to remind you of something else your familiar with. A trigger, something from memory. It is allowing yourself to follow lines which are not perfect shapes, more like quickly drawn cartoon shapes. Shibui requires intentional lines to round out the found forms.

The mind after repeating the process of creating Shibui Found Image Art builds upon the process to a point, where seeing ahead comes natural to the Shibuiest. The imagined foundation is kept within the mind and transposed mentally onto the foundation enough to create the illusion. Shibui are built upon layers. Understanding how one’s light source works each time and maintaining its position is vital to the illusion for the whole foundation. Pastels are layered until they are no longer crayon line by creating small circles, letting a layer to rest and then layering over it again. A blender is something to consider. But know, learn what it does to the colors. Know what it will do to the end results of the Shibui. It has more gloss to the surface. What I wish to impart is that Shibui has its own requirements. And those come intimately from your imagination. Creating Shibui is paving your own way as is all art. The more you bring into the image itself the more finished the result will become.

Best wishes! Pejj