La Datcha: illustration, photos, etc.

Ink on paper

The kind of monster that hides under the bed.

It looks like me when I started drawing again: paralyzed, hit by the white page syndrome. My hands - and mostly my head - did not remember how to proceed. I was wondering how to get out of that impasse when I remembered the inkblot technique. It is used in psychoanalysis but it can also give you a hand in terms of creativity!

My adapted method (or absence of it!) is simple: you wet the paper, drop big or small amounts of ink and see what happens.

I sometimes find a beast hiding somewhere: bird, bear, fish… If not, I just play around with the shape, add texture and try to give it depth by adding or subtracting ink (wet the paper in some areas and dab gently with an absorbent paper). Working white on black is also permitted!

I’ve been “inking” this way for a few months. I can now control a little part of what happens by using more or less water on the paper or by directing the brush a certain way when I drop the ink, but my subconscious still do most of the work. And that’s fine that way. For now.

Ink and acrylic on paper

I will leave you with a few pictures from around where I live (the forest at the back and the small lake in front of our house).

Have a good weekend!