“It is all a game of construction – some with a brush, some with a shovel, some choose a pen.”

-Jackson Pollock

 

This is one of Pollock’s artwork, “Ocean Greyness”. [Taken from https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/jackson-pollock]

I have no idea what mark-making is at first, so I did a little bit of research. I found out the usual stuffs – the explanation of what mark-making really is, its history, and the artists who often apply mark-making techniques in their artworks. (I like Jackson Pollock’s works.) However, I also read something that I found interesting, which is what makes a mark-making “good”.

So what constitutes the facility for ‘good’ mark-making by being aware of marks that:

  1. Are appropriate to our intentions – right for the job.
  2. Are ‘alive’ and embody and express the ‘life-energy’ of their maker, the artist.
  3. Help to communicate and express qualities of light and its invisible energy, and the material substance, form, volume, and surface of the objects we are drawing.
  4. Present the eye with changes of pace and rhythm that collectively offer variety and interest. [The rich and varied texture of nature and the world around us is our guide].
  5. Express and stretch the properties of the medium that the drawing is made from.

[Quoted from http://www.utdallas.edu/~melacy/pages/Drawing/AS01_MarkMaking_DrawingProjects/MarkMaking.html with changes]

 

This is what I planned to bring at first.

After reading that, I feel like I should try to explore more ideas, so as to find one that I feel is more “alive” to me and to provide more variety – not only to make it more interesting for the audience, but also for me to better express my ideas. In my previous post I mentioned using bottle caps, but I would probably bring other things (like my brush pen or my paperweight?). My idea is to bring things that can be found in my room, because that’s simple and easy, yet the results may be surprisingly good. (I hope.)

 

 

I think maybe other types of bottle caps might be a good idea.

 

And this is my paperweight.

 

After all, there shouldn’t be right or wrong; people have different ideas and choose to use different tools. It is just about who is able to present their ideas more effectively, more attractively, and more expressively.

All in all, I’ll have fun learning and experimenting. I’m looking forward to tomorrow (I mean today).