I wanted to use this exercise to explore different styles of text from various languages that I have seen on the page and to invent something that looked like it. The idea that there might be accidental letters or even words was quite exciting. My text is therefore a mixture and is almost like a hidden unknown language and that idea was quite romantic and had some appeal. So the first one is sort of middle eastern, with hints of Greek. I also wanted to include some "print" marks which I got by pressing fun foam into articles like an african pot, and any other items that might reveal something interesting. I used Indian ink for the lettering.
The textural marks in my secont painting are more inventive and show no inclination to any known language, as far as I know. Vaguely Far Eastern. Having created an interesting surface, using contrasting blue and orange, I used red oil pastel for the text.
It struck me when reading some art books that everything is so dependent on the new and latest trends and movements, just as it is in marketing, so my words reflected this. Somehow it doesn't work though, it probably needs some overpainting or underpainting but as the exercise was about exploring the mark making process I didn't think that was appropriate.
Chinese or indeed any language that uses symbolism that does not involve the Western alphabet, has great appeal. I decided to use one of the symbols as an abstract shape, filling the whole page, floating on a background resembling water, giving some depth.
I thought about Paul Klee's comment about taking a line for a walk with this last piece and tried to include all the letters of the alphabet in it. I tried not to worry about the size and exact shape of the letters keeping the line fairly fluid but varying the thickness of the line and taking the lettering beyond the edge of the paper. When I look back at my work I realize it is not something that I do in my work generally, but a technique I should consider more frequently perhaps.
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