A Minor Attempt at Gestural Writing

I have been in envelope mode for ages. Even so, I have been anxious to try some of what I've learned in my past two workshops. What supplies were close at hand? Envelopes! A spoiled (but high quality) envelope netted this experiment. A little acrylic paint was brushed on. A little gesso over that and over the inked lettering on the envelope. Yves told us to consider first the composition of the overall piece - what would draw a person to come in for a closer look. My attempt unexpectedly took on a life of its own. To me it had a wintry look. The black ink yielded black tree trunks out of a white gesso snow and blue acrylic shadows. Had it not done so, I might have made a more Yves-looking piece. Instead I capitalized (no pun intended) on the wintry feeling. Yves said texture would draw a person in to look more closely. The gesso, brush strokes and tiny graphite lettering produced texture. He said the lettering should be small and perfect - only large enough to be read close-up. It's a different way to do calligraphy. I'm sure I did not do exactly what Yves would have done, but I am pleased with the result nonetheless. It's a paint, ink and gesso coated envelope. A fairly quick piece evocative of an early winter evening. I lettered in graphite pencil the Camus quote "In the midst of winter I found there was within me an invincible summer." I wanted to practice the gestural writing I'd attempted to learn so 'summer' is sort of gestural.





Until my next opportunity to play with it, this will have to do.