Abstract Mark Making Explorations

Alongside the waves I have written about previously, mark making, particularly gestural mark making tends to be something inbuilt in all of us, particularly artists. Whenever I teach students about mark making, I refer to it as being the visual equivalent of handwriting. It is something that has an instinctive part, a physical part, a neurological part and a skill part. We often make marks subconsciously, as evidenced by dreamily doodling onto a piece of paper when listening to a lesson in a classroom for example. We are often in a different conscious state, more of an alpha state than a beta state. This allows our instincts to come to the fore.

Everyone will have preferences for the type of mark they make, whether spiky or swirly, complex or simple. Understanding and having an awareness of these marks and individual mark making is what makes up the voice of the artist. For example, when we think of Van Gogh we can imagine the distinctive mark making that is his hallmark and makes his work recognisable. Even Pollock became infamous for his expressive paint dribbles and splatters. These then become the hallmark of the artist’s work and instantly recognisable.

Even though we may have a natural tendency toward this mark or that, we can always challenge and expand on this by adding new elements or borrowing marks from another source. Often, we can feel stuck in a rut of the same old marks, bored with our own visual vocabulary and in need of fresh inspiration and expansion.

Recently I explored in my sketchbook the types of mark that occur in nature, particularly within cells. It was inspired by the Dendrite series I wrote about previously in this blog. As I looked at different cell types from grass blades to bugs to blood, it revealed the rich patterns that surround us all the time but cannot be seen by the eye. This is very much central to the theme of my work – that which cannot be perceived readily. We know that with electron microscopes we can zoom right in to the most minute details.

Much as Kirlian photography, which I also explored on this blog, can reveal elements we cannot perceive, technology can help us to decipher fact from fiction. I am hoping that scientific developments within the field of the paranormal and the spiritual will one day reveal other energies that we cannot directly perceive.

Mark making does not just have to be part of the artist’s vocabulary, it can also lead us into further exploration and help us to describe that which the eye cannot see.