It's all very puzzling

 

 Recently I was nudged to musing (it doesn't take much) by reference to the newish word game "Wordle."  Among my brainy gal pals (that's all of you who are reading this) are two who are ardent crossword enthusiasts, and awhile back, one confessed to a few weeks' fascination with the new game in town.

 

That set me thinking about how little interest I've ever had in structured games and puzzles that -- maybe I ought to be interested in?  Couldn't I just stay on the sidelines, please, with my paints?  You know how I love colour…

 

…and playing around with shapes that don't fit within the lines.

 

This is serious business in making art.  The early 20^th century American artist and teacher Charles Hawthorne nailed it when he wrote:--

 

"Each time you stand before a blank canvas you have to think you are going to solve a visual problem and not make a picture."

His quote explains my own common refrains as I begin from an idea and continue on through making a painting:  "Can I pull this off?" "Can I make this work?" "HOW will I do this?!?!"

 

Okay. Let's give it a whirl.  So I had the idea to put together two figures, companionably working on their "puzzle" of choice, with two different tactics that might or might not overlap.  I saw them working on the floor on a huge grid.

 

After many tries laying out a convincing grid in perspective, I decided I'd better work very simply, with just enough "boxes" to make it comprehensible.  I made a small reference copy from the simple layout of the Globe & Mail's Daily Universal Puzzle. 

 

 

The placement of the figures was not easy – "How will I do this??"  Eventually, I resorted to my time-honoured method of making big "paper doll" cut-outs and even then, I had to make a couple of false starts.

 

Settling them onto the grid was no easier.  "Can I pull this off???"

 

Shouldn't it be simple to construct a grid?  Not for me – not from overhead, at an angle, in perspective.  The problems became more evident as I introduced colour.

 

 

"Can I make this work?"  Well….even the two figures found their minds boggled by the challenges.  The guy who prefers colours dressed himself in white and grey.  The gal who prefers dark and light pulled out her colour wardrobe. 

 

I decided to press on anyway – even knowing that this will be one of those paint-over canvases in another six months.  But I leave you with two fun challenges to test your own crossword puzzle aptitude:  (1) Can you identify the 2-letter words that fill the final grid? (2) Can you immerse yourself in "The Pencil Puzzle"  – and then explain it to me?

 

Here's the final version of my experiment titled "Puzzling" (as in the verb "to puzzle;" the act of engaging in doing a puzzle).  You might choose to think of it as a new hybrid game I've invented – called "CHORTLE."

 

 

One of a kind

 

 

 

Whoa!  Where did this come from?  A magnificent lone asparagus, an inch thick and over a foot high, appearing in a sidewalk garden strip at the end of my block.  Was it a message for me and my next project?  Not vegetable art, but…a single unexpected something.

 

When an idea comes to me, I'll save it for future reference in my sketchbook list titled, "Series and Singulars."  And simply from the vision of the asparagus, I decided it was time to take a break from a sequence of Series – and also from working in black and white – and do a colourful Singular.

 

I knew just the thing.  I'd been intrigued by the cover painting on an art magazine, a simple scene that offered marvellous colours and beautiful hand poses.  By trying to copy just a part of that painting, I could learn a lot.

 

I did a quick lay-in, somewhat in the spirit of my new pal Hashim Akib.

 

The trouble is…this method looks effortless for him, but it can quickly leave me out of control.  I soon felt the composition was out of whack.

 

Okay.  I painted it over and headed back to Square One.

 

Here's the layout, Round 2:

 

…and in progress:

 

And the final:

 

Well, I said it was a study.  And that I could learn a lot by giving it a try.  What's more, by doing it, I've brought that funky plant into my house with no risk of spider mites – Alocasia Polly, sometimes known as the "African Mask Plant."  

 

Do I feel a series coming on?   "Famous Artists with Masks" ?

 

Or "Famous Artists with Funky Plants"?

 

OH, wow!  Late-breaking!!  I knew I'd find a photo of Matisse with his plants (and his lionesque dog???) – and looking for that, I found a whole website on…ta tum!... "Famous Artists and CATS".  Here's Pierre Bonnard – famous for his use of colour…and his cats:

 

I'd better rein this in and get back to that singular asparagus.  My neighbours down the block helped demonstrate just what can happen when something unexpected rises up and heads for the heights.