Develop a Modus Operandi

Journal Entry: Friday, July 29, 2022

In my artwork I have developed efficiencies that not only save time but reduce anxiety and frustration. I have a current set of works that I call typographic abstractions and in order to arrive at a solution to any given painting in this group, I created a series of repeatable processes so that as I finish each of the many layers of processes that it takes to arrive at a satisfactorily completed work, I could confidently move on to the next layer and then the next until I arrived at the completion of the work and be confident that it is finished without looking backwards. I assume most artists eventually develop these kinds of efficiencies in their work.

PDP1210CT23 - 48 x 48 inches - acrylic over paper on canvas

In the early experiments I was trying out different ideas that caused me to sometimes be forced to backtrack and fix things or change things. However, once I had made my decisions about what worked and what did not, I was able to codify the process and wrote down a ‘recipe’ of how to get from beginning to end. After following the recipe on several paintings to be sure it was exactly right, I then, through practice, internalized the process so that I don’t have to think about it. First this, then that, then the next thing, etc. My modus operandi.

PDP1213CT23 - 72 x 84 inches acrylic over paper on canvas

Over the years this has been my way to work. First, I experiment to look for a new idea that I like, that seems true to my intuition, true to my path, then I analyze what it is that attracts me to that particular thing and work out the rules of what makes it work. I then experiment more to refine what precisely works and what falls short perhaps in terms of material or color or proportion or surface or technique and then determine a constructive system or a set of limitations that when applied yield a result that interests me yet has inexhaustible possibilities for exploration.

With the typographic abstractions, I have been working on them for twenty years and continue to break new ground and the results continue to engage and interest me. But, perhaps I am easily amused.

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Have you developed a Modus Operandi? Leave a comment below.