Repetition

So there's this self-portrait that I'm working on, and I'm figuring out what to do with it next. As I sit in the studio right now, I'm going to proceed in-part with the computer sketch you see below. But, in addition to that I thought I would share some images that came out while I was messing around on my computer. Don't mind the brain-dump that will ensue afterward.

These last two images are very unlike what I typically do. I'm not really into simplification and certainly not repeated simplification... But there was something about the shapes of the birds (left) and the pattern they created when put in a circle (right) that really intrigues me and I can't quite put my finger on why. Birds: I use birds frequently not because I like birds and they're my favorite animal... as terrible as it may sound, I enjoy birds as an object.

I know I'm drawn to Reds, Blacks, and Whites for a couple of symbolic reasons... but to put a solid black circle somewhere is new to me - I like black (or dark) contour lines. Barriers. Boundaries. The defining of an object. This is one reason behind why my work ends up looking very graphic; other reasons include sources of influence, but it's not purely a "I just like that style," kind of thing. But that aside, the repeated simplification is something I've typically tried to avoid because it reminds me of interior design: upholstery, wallpaper, tiles, and that kind of thing. Yet I was encouraged by Rubens at one point to find out what I like to draw and just do it over and over and over again; almost in an obsessive fashion. At least that's what I got out of what he said.. which is how the Wing Pinwheels in a previous entry came about.

In analyzing or studying literature, repetition is taken note of. Repeated words stick out and the author usually intends to communicate something by that repetition... The problem that I face here is that I'm not completely sure what I want to communicate. That and visual repetition isn't "read" the same way as literary repetition. Perhaps this is something I should look into more because birds come up again, and again, and again in my work. I know why I use birds, but does anyone else get it?

Are they supposed to?

Which reminds me of a previous entry, which I won't get into, but it had stuff about mystery in it.

All of that aside I'm going to tackle that painting now. Brain-dump end.