Our youngest daughter has a really great vocabulary. She uses words like aesthetic, designated, and progressive. I’m always impressed with her ability as a 10-year-old to use such big words in the correct context. In addition to this big word ability, she also has phrases that she says all the time. My current favorite is “I believe so.” Instead of answering “yes” to a question she uses these words. It’s a part of her vocabulary, a part of her.
I’ve been thinking about the idea of a visual vocabulary for a while now. I think that as an artist I have certain visual elements that pop up again and again: in finished paintings, in doodles, in my mind. The obvious element that I turn to over and over is the triangle. I just can’t quit with the triangles! It all started five years ago when I made a collection of one hundred watercolor color studies. I loved the order of triangles in a grid, inspired by quilt patterns. About a year ago I thought that I should move past the triangles. I tried painting looser, and while I liked it, I missed the order and geometry of triangles. Wasn’t it time for me to move on? Maybe, but maybe not. Should I tell my daughter to quit saying “I believe so”? I don’t think so.
I discussed the triangles (and repetitive pattern making) with someone recently, and they had such great insight into them. When we repeat marks in art it is a way of regulating the nervous system. Its calming and focusing. My favorite thing about those first watercolor triangles was how they made me feel. I loved painting them.
It is also an identifier when something repetitive pops up over and over. It’s like a visual flare of sorts. Just like a often used phrase identifies someone, so does a collection of images or marks. I think this is why I have returned to painting more geometrically after a season of painting loosely. It may be a returning to myself, or returning to a way of working that is soothing and calming. Paring the so familiar triangles with my favorite postcards has been reorienting. Using my own vocabulary, waving my hand in the air, if only to myself. Here I am!