The push and pull of posting work online is that there is the feeling that greater intrinsic value is assigned to work that gets more likes. Even as I know this not true in the least, I fall under the spell of likes sometimes anyway. Last week was no exception. I posted some real bangers and got only a handful of likes. I REALLY liked what I made last week so much I’m highlighting it here to continue to enjoy it.
Feast your eyeballs on mah journal. It is the business.
Little Pink Houses
I was digging around in my paper bins and I found this pink house I’d cut out sometime in the past and didn’t use. I liked it and wondered what it would look like sitting with other colorful houses on a neutral colored ground. Which made me wonder if I could use colored strips then to be the layers of sediment underneath the houses. This was my first mock up of the houses and ground.
The text in the pinkish tan box says: “Lately though, it felt like the dreams of paint were more present than the activity of painting.” I wrote that in my journal about how some days feel.
I love all of this big color with the neutrals of the eco dyed paper and the tea painting on the top right of the page. I like the idea of things incubating under the surface. Not in a malevolent way but in a new growth in the springtime way.
We grow by delays
Enjoy this zen moment of these cutouts in a tea bath. It’s perfect. Honestly, if there was a way to live full time in this picture, I’d do it.
I have a ton of images of things others have made saved in Instagram. They are things I love and want to call upon for inspiration. I flip through them when I’m looking for color combos or layering ideas. Lately I’ve been obsessed with colors showing through white paint. I wanted to try that so I laid down some colors, first with collage materials, then with paint.
I knew I wanted to use this tea dyed lotus and I knew I wanted to use the phrase “we grow by delays” which is from a journaling workshop I went to recently online. I’ve joined the Joybook community and it’s been such a treat in these times. I’ve always been a journaler and digging into it now seems to have really kick started my art practice in a new and exciting way.
This is the finished piece and I love the grunge and the bright. It’s my new jam.
A couple of closeups:
It’s all the little losses
I started out this spread by spray painting with stencils. Something I love to do but don’t do nearly often enough. I mean I have to carry all this stuff outside and set up a workspace and paint and let it dry and THEN haul it all back in. I need to overcome this tendency to laze out of doing it because it was epically beautiful outside this week. And also I love spray painting in my book.
This page already had some art on it. I made this book out of scraps and old pieces of art I didn’t like any more so underneath this head was some bird collage stuff from 2013. Oh wow, is the head better.
I am deeply in love with grunge. I’ve said it on here before that deconstruction is my heart of hearts. Scratches and peeling paint and things that seem broken but are actually beautiful in there disrepair. Whew, I need a minute. This page is wholeheartedly that and completes the theme of “it’s all the little losses” perfectly. It’s gonna be awhile before I’m over this page.
Some close ups:
Messy Doodles
There’s a free class over at Jeanne Oliver’s website called: Scribble Art. It’s a great class and the jumping off point for this page. I first painted the background with tea, coffee, water soluble graphite, and Daniel Smith Quinacridone Gold watercolor:
I’ve been listening to conversations from Hutchmoot Homebound this past week and I loved what John Hendrix said about “Ideas come from actions not from thoughts.” I find that to be true in my own work so thought I’d include it in this page of very active scribbles.
Surrender
I’m deeply in love with the rust red and earthy orange showing through the top layers of paint. I loved the process of peeling this page. I glued some things down and then spray painted and then started peeling the glued down bits off before any of it was dry. I got down to the original layer and it’s kinda magic. The process of covering things up and then peeling back those layers to reveal the things underneath really resonates with me. It is fascinating, soothing, and deeply spiritual. I’m going to be trying to recreate this process outside my journal. Cross your fingers I can make the jump and stick the landing.
Maybe it’s the journaling I’ve been doing. Maybe it was just a really good week of making art. Grace in a new and lovely way this week. Whatever the reason, I am thankful and still kinda starry eyed over my own streak of excellent work. It doesn’t happen super often so I’m gonna enjoy it!
Somehow I missed the first seven of these posts last week. I love them, esp. how you used the little houses. You also used the colors I love in the first seven. Good work on all of them.
Thanks, May!