One of the things I love doing, when I meet a new artist I admire, is sitting down to watch them work.
There are so many things that go into a finished art journal spread or painting, or any creative endeavor that exist under the surface. What we see as "finished" is a collection of not only paint and paper, but the music, location, time of day, and anything seemingly random that the artist encountered that day.
Heart to Art is a 4-week mini-workshop where I'll not only create a video for you to watch, but explain all the other stuff going on that connected at that moment of time. I want to share the process because the finished spread is only half the journey. I am interested in how certain things came together to create the art I love so much.
Join me every Friday to see the video and learn something under the surface. Download the supply sheet here.
I've just gone through a rough patch with many complications, and two weeks post-everything has me seeing the world in a new way, walking around, living out of a suitcase, and living on faith. Faith that things will fall into place. Faith that I'm doing the right thing. These are a few of the thoughts going through my mind as I began to paint.
I started a bit differently than I usually do, scribbling with watercolor Neocolor II crayons, then hitting the diluted color with heavy body white acrylic paint and a bit of Dina Wakley Media black gesso (I am also using her brushes).
Golden's new High Flow Acrylics are awesome for making drips down the page. I haven't done too much of this lately, but like playing and moving quickly when I'm in the flow of creating. I made the mistake of hitting the dark indigo with green gold...which makes a yucky color. But instead of thinking the page was finished, I kept going, knowing I could fix it.
One thing I wanted to play with was my newest digital collage sheet. I'm old school when it comes to collage sheets - get some scissors, copies, and double-sided tape and I'm good to go. However, I've been experimenting with using elements from journal pages and creating the collage sheets completely on the computer. It's so fun and allows me to make them much more easier.
I can't wait until next week, when I'll do more with the new Derwent Graphik Line Painters (can we say 0.5 nibs and smoooooth writing?)
Around the time I started putting down the acrylics and thicker layers, a new song came on my Spotify radio. Some of the feel of the song & the bit of the speech jumped into my journal. Who doesn't want life to be an adventure? I'm standing on the edge about to step into that wonderful life, face to the sun, free.
(Seeing and feeling passion, combined with great music & talent, can do a lot. I love the indirect way the music I listen to gets into the flow of my world.)
I'll be using the comments section as a forum -- feel free to post questions/impressions there and I will reply to the best of my ability.