Mark-making

 

Mark-making is a hot topic at the moment in the artist world. The term is mentioned in a lot of articles about art, but what does it mean exactly? The term sort of says it all: you are making marks, you are using your specific marks in your art... 

I looked for a definition and found it on www.tate.org.uk: 

Mark making describes the different lines, dots, marks, patterns, and textures we create in an artwork. It can be loose and gestural or controlled and neat. It can apply to any material used on any surface: paint on canvas, ink or pencil on paper, a scratched mark on plaster, a digital paint tool on a screen, a tattooed mark on skin…even a sound can be a form of mark making. Artists use gesture to express their feeling and emotions in response to something seen or something felt – or gestural qualities can be used to create a purely abstract composition.

I think I have been mark-making a lot without knowing the term... I like to make abstract work where you are not overthinking the marks or strokes you are making. And I have been making a lot of cards in a dotted pattern, just because I like to make repeating patterns in different colour combinations, it is a sort of meditation for me.

In the picture above you see pages from my sketchbook: marks on the left, a soft layer of colours on the right with a portrait taped on top. Don't you just love CREATING...?

Little portrait in blue

 In my sketchbook I make these little portrait drawings, in a corner, with coloured pencil. They just pop up whenever I see some interesting face or have the time to sit and concentrate.

They always surprise me because errors are included, you have to nail it just in one go. And of course this fails sometimes but even then there might be something interesting in it.

Calligraphy pen sketch

 Drawing with a calligraphy pen can give nice effects, try using all sides to give something extra to your portrait. I like how this small drawing turned out. 

Colourful interiors

 In the same museum as my last post this also caught my eye: the colourful interiors, and the explicit combinations. Today most Dutch interiors have a white base and some additional colours, but in the previous centuries they were not afraid of colour!

This is a small candy-store, the complete blue colour cheers you up.

These carpets caught my attention because of the colour combination: brown black and red, alternating in stripes.

And this simple hallway is painted in pink, blue and green. It does give character to a house!