A dime a dozen… nah!
From The Free Dictionary the above phrase is ubiquitous… so abundant or common as to hold little or no value. Examples quoted include, “In Los Angeles, waiters trying to become famous actors are a dime a dozen.” And, “That bird might be a rare sight where you come from, but around here they're a dime a dozen.” Basically if things or people are a dime a dozen there are a lot of them and so they are not especially valuable or interesting. Note: A dime is an American coin worth ten cents, and the corresponding British expression is, “Two a penny.”
However, my dozen sheets of artwork taped to the studio wall for appraisal are a bit more special than the heading implies. Although, as I mentioned in a recent post on Ello, I've been filling - some would say I’ve simply been dabbling and scribbling - three (at least, probably more if I count up) 100-page A3 sketchbooks with assorted and random ideas and expressions, they do produce a number of individual pieces worth more thought, further experimentation with, and potential framing for showing and selling on a platform such as ETSY, since the better selling on-line site Saatchi Art doesn’t accept artwork at lower than $100.
These twelve are not so much to a theme but do involve similar techniques… all were primed with black gesso, then with added brushstrokes of white acrylic, before being used as the base for "cut and paste" collage. They were produced over a couple of weeks and since none from the series have been omitted here you can see how my train of thought was working.
The series could go on and on, but I have other projects on hand using different media which are just as interesting to explore creatively. Although I feel comfortable with A3-size paper (29.7 x 42.0 cm / 11.7 x 16.5 in) as a working format, I’ve also been using much larger 150 x 100 cm sheets of the Italian Fabriano paper cut from a long roll which is another ball-game altogether… small sketchbook pages can be torn out at will and binned/trashed if not so inspiring (not quite along the “dime a dozen” mentality) but pristine sheets of paper wider than the span of one’s outstretched arms take on a completely different dimension, which can be quite scary at times. But there’s a plus point here… these sketchbook pages can be translated to much larger artworks where the initial (hard) thoughts have already been partly solved creatively, and then progress on a grander scale can be undertaken with less hesitancy and more freedom… and that’s how I enjoy time in my studio.
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Images / words © Ed Buziak 2020.