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Several years back, during a particularly troubling episode of depression and creative-block, I posted on Facebook about needing ideas to help get me “unstuck”. One of my friends’ friends, whom I have never met, but was a designer I followed online, suggested a great exercise that I have continued to employ whenever I find myself floundering (what a great word!). As I lay flapping about on my living room floor, I read his suggestion that was basically this: take 10 small pieces of sketch paper and lay them out side by side. On the first one, draw something, anything, for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, go to the next piece of paper, and so on…You can start fresh with each one, or base each on the previous sketch. Do whatever the hell works for you in that moment. Keep going until you are no longer efforting, but simply creating.
Well I gotta tell you, it worked so well, I never even made it past page 6. I began making small designs, and quickly switched to using mosaic tesserae (pieces of stone and such) and cementing them to a substrate (backer board). This was when my infatuation with slate began to take hold and I created and SOLD several small works As. I. Completed them! I was loving this, AND I was having a great time!
As a result of the success I had with these stone “sketches”, I went on to be in several group shows with the work, as well as being invited to exhibit at the Rogue Gallery in Medford, OR in a three woman show called Meditations on Daily Splendor. I created larger works based on arial landscapes and geologic formations. You can see some of the results on my fine art site, https://karenrycheckmosiacs.com contact me to view and/or purchase.
In 2019 I was having another episode of “stuckness”, so I employed this same exercise to create mini-mosaic sketches exploring andamento, visual layering, and mixing materials that I then took to Bend, OR to include in a small works show that had 2000 works of art!! I happily sold several, but there are still a few left for purchase here on my site. Hope you enjoy them!
