~d a real account of an event in a news-
paper or magazine and adapt the word s of
the victim /hero/perpetrator to your artistic
needs. Change the names, of course!~
.'90 I CREATIVE PA I N T W O RKSHOP
Create and Destroy!
Have you ever stopped to stare in admiration at some
amazingly colorful, virtuoso graffiti painted over billboards
or posters? Legal or not, what you are looking at is a
mixed-media painting. Usually the artists or "taggers" have
their own unique styles, which may be quite ornate or
cartoonlike. Frequently the poster underneath is weath-
ered and torn, adding a further dimension. Try "defacing"
your own found text in this manner. You can stick the
image onto a firm surface- a canvas board or wooden
panel- then, when it has dried, scrape parts of it away with
a knife, or rub it with sandpaper until only parts of words
are left. Finally, add graffiti'True Confessions
You don't have to be a novelist to write stories; visual
artists can do it too. Many artists already enjoy journal-
ing, which is a form of autobiography. Write in note form
if you don't want to take time over long accounts: "Pizza
with Paul. Rude waiter, but great wine. Saw Lela and Rudi
cozy together in a booth." Consider scribbling rather than
writing neatly to give your art a more spontaneous atmo-
sphere. Illustrate with drawings, which can be childlike or
sophisticated, depending on your level of draftsmanship'
Confessions don't have to be true, either. Adopt another
persona; invent her thoughts.The Second Reader (detail)
Four pages of an old
reading primer have been
scrawled Qnd scribbled
onto with crayons, then
gouged into with scissors
to teor Qway parts of the
collage. Mottled glazes of
transparent paint add to
the weathered look.