Friday, February 6, 2009

cleansing my palette...

Carp Ridge Study, 2.5" x 3.5"
Coloured Pencil on Colorfix Paper
Copyright Teresa Mallen

Do you ever feel the need to cleanse your visual palette? Once I have finished a significant piece, I like to do something that will shake loose the former image and its colours and concerns. I picture it as the mental equivalent of my dog shaking the rain from his fur. (How do they manage to wiggle themselves so vigorously from their nose to the tip of their tail?)

So I did some visual cleansing by working on this small study. And the mental shake felt very good indeed! The chard pencils have been put away, my studio has been tidied and my drafting table has had a good wash. I am now ready to start a new piece next week.

So what do you do to cleanse your palette?

6 comments:

Valerie Jones said...

Oh, I love this idea! I clean the house to cleanse my palette.

Jeanette Jobson said...

I usually try a different medium entirely then look forward to picking up my pencils once more.

Ann said...

This is wonderful! I love the color in this one. I do all those things, clean the house, clean up my work space, and do something very different, if only in my sketchbook.

Paula Pertile said...

I eat sorbet!

No, really. This is a great metaphor. Hmm...I tend to organizing things I think, or clean or tidy up or work in the yard. Then I'm ready to get back into "art" again.

Nice little piece by the way!

Teresa Mallen said...

Hi ladies,

Looks like we have a bit of a theme here, cleaning...humm, wonder if any fellas could wade into the discussion...is this just a girl thing? And yes, Jeanette you are our wonderful exception!

Thanks Ann - coming from you, the Queen of pastel-like studies in c.p., grand praise indeed.

Paula, why don't we eat sorbet while we clean? Oh heck, I don't care what we eat, lets just eat. You like chocolate cheesecake right?

Teresa said...

Beautiful colors! I think I "palette cleanse" by either using a completely different technique (eg, no solvent on one piece, use solvent on the next piece or heavy burnishing on one followed by something done in light layers) or switching mediums. But I do like to clean up my art table area too!