Over the past several months I have been diving deeper into the gel printing process and trying different methods for creating images, patterns and textures. Possibilities are endless. I need to figure out a few I like best, and stick to working with those until I have small catalogue of finished works – then I can move on to others. Most prints I’ve made so far have been for practice, with some already dedicated to art projects. Not all turn out great, but most have areas that are usable for collages and other future work.
I decided to start a journal reserved for such pieces. At first I was inclined to keep only clippings from prints that made it into a finished art piece, add notes pertaining to color palettes and mixes, and the steps taken to come up with the result. However, a part of me felt strongly that getting too technical with detailed notes would take away from simply enjoying to the process of making something.
The need for jotting down notes likely stems from my long-time career in the legal field where everything one does in a case file should be documented. Couple that with being a Gen Xer raised by Silver Generation parents, having grown up with the tenet that the paper trail was king. If it wasn’t written down, then it didn’t exist or it didn’t happen. While documentation preserves information and is important in many instances, it doesn’t have to dominate every area of one’s life.
With this project, I am siding with the part of my soul that just wants to enjoy creating. To satisfy the part that demands I keep an eternal running log, I will maintain a record, but limited to 2 in. by 4.5 in. portions of my process, whether or not an entire print turns out the way I had hoped.
No written words, no comprehensive notes – just proof that creativity happened.
