Fracture Birds

Most of my Fracture Art is random. Totallly non-purposeful and the subjects are chosen after-the-fact, pulled from first impression from my subconscious. However every once in a while I will make a piece with intent. This one with black birds one is somewhere in-between those ideas.


I drew the fractures for part of one object first, totally at random. Then when I decided it was a black bird I finished it and then drew the other. The trees in the background were completely purposeful. I had decided it was going to be black birds, and trees seemed the only option. I realize now how it could easily have been a building or cityscape, so it is kind of interesting that I didn't even consider them.

What was new about this piece is that it was the first time I did the ink washes over them. Until now, I had always colored inside the lines. That sounds like an analogy for life. It is not. I was always the one doing things differently. I've never been on the inside. But my Fracture Art used to look so clean. Coloring inside the lines, and made at least a little effort into making the coloring full and even.

My Fracture Art likeness leans towards a broken-Mondrian piece. Imagine Mondrian did his work on an Etch-a-Sketch, and it dropped to the floor. Or perhaps he did work with toothpicks and someone knocked it off the table. As with most analogies, it is not quite right as I have a method behind creating the lines.

That is an important thing to note, and is a difficult idea to get across to people. Each line is placed with care, but the subject is not decided until all of the lines are drawn. That's right, some of these pieces are both purposeful and non-purposeful. THE MADNESS.

I try to have some lesson with each art piece I post. There are a few from this one, starring: experimenting with your art might create something you love. Rules get you there, but there's no saying you can't make a few excursions.