I've been mostly making up jigsaws of landscapes (there doesn't seem to be a verb to denote this...to jigsaw? to piece? to assemble?), but this lady caught my eye. Harmless piece of entertainment, I thought. Wrongly, as it turned out. This particular jigsaw was quite difficult to assemble; all the bits looked the same. What I discovered, though, was that assembling it taught me a great deal about Van Gogh and how he used paint. Yeah, okay, I knew that already, intellectually. I've stood in front of several of his paintings, and thought about how he moved paint around, how he added marks to the canvas. Somehow, though, piecing together disassembled brush marks really made me think about them, almost to experience them, though without the mess of actually painting (we're in a new house, of which more another time, and I have no painting studio as yet...hell, I have no studio set up at all so far). It also allowed me to appreciate the tonal subtleties of the piece. Tonal subtlety isn't really something I've associated with Van Gogh... I was wrong.
There's also something about looking, and looking carefully. There's nothing like a jigsaw to make you really look at what you have in front of you, and reach an understanding of it. No, that bit doesn't fit there, but it does match the colours... not there, either...but there, it fits. No matter how good we think we are at observation, a jigsaw makes us better.
This exercise in proxy creativity also made me think about my own painting, and drawing. I make marks similar to those black, semi abstract heart shapes at the bottom of the canvas, in paint, dye and stitch. Mine tend to be rune-inspired, or Celtic in origin. Maybe it's time I did more of that kind of loose work. And those are important thoughts, at a time when I'm really not sure where I'm going, what I'm going to do next, at a time when I have to recognise, once and for all, that my energy is severely limited, as is my space, so even the huge cull I had before we moved here from Norfolk was not severe enough. I feel I need to get this last cull right, even although I know that getting rid of things is not the end of the world, as things can be replaced at the right time, the time when you actually need them, instead of hoarding them against a future that probably won't ever arrive, certainly not in the form you expected.
So, there you are. Creativity, learning and reflection encouraged by the simple act of making a jigsaw. Which artist will I study next...?
3 comments:
I'm not familiar with this painting either Marion although I do love Van Gogh's work. We went to an exhibition many years ago and I was blown away by his use of colour and by the great joy of his thick paint on the canvas. I've never looked into online jigsaws but you've got me interested now. I think you've done so well to get moved from Norfolk to Scotland and can't begin to imagine how you got to grips with all that decluttering. Adjustments to life changes, especially with health, take so much time and I know you are getting there. Just wish you didn't have to do that but you are heading in the right direction (Sorry for the cliché but the admiration is genuine).
Love doing jigsaws for that reason: the observation of the smallest detail. I used to do them online too but can't find the one I was on anymore.
Also have a new one waiting to be freed from its box. Too cold in the backroom though.
Van Gogh: never appreciated his emotions overflowing from his paintings. The urgency of the brush strokes etc etc I think it is time well spent looking at detail, appreciating how the whole comes together from all the parts.
One of my favourites at the moment is Pissarro. The mood in his paintings absorbed straight from being in the landscape.
Re decluttering the craft stashes ... know exactly what you mean. I was stuck in the 'may come in useful one day' groove for years and am finally getting out of it. I am now sorting on the principal that it is for work that I really really want to do ... it is all to do with making pictures and using colour ... whether it is stitched, painted or knitted or felted or even a mix of all of that.
I know I will sit and stitch by hand, or knit & crochet, and painting is never going to go away ever :)
And like you say: it can always be bought again if needs be.
Bonus: it declutters my head at the same time. I feel lighter already :)
Thank you both x. I know it's good for me, to get rid of more 'stuff', but at this point, it's much harder to do. It will be easier to keep it tidy, though lol.
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