Creative Outburst

Remember these? I hated them.

Reworked all 3 in the series

New, smaller art journal

Adding pages with Washi tape

Advise to myself

Play is very, very important right now

The three 8x8 canvases that I had added numbers to were sitting on one of the work tables in the studio room. Mocking me. Bugging me endlessly. I really, really, REALLY didn't like them in the state they had been left. The solution was to go simple. I divided the canvases with an imaginary line, painted the bottom halves solid black over the numbered molding paste, then painted around the collage elements on top with Titan Buff from Golden. That took 2 coats. Let that dry for a few days. Glazed the top halves with Light Burnt Sienna for just a hint of aging. Took fine grit sandpaper, and very lightly went over the tops of the numbers made from the molding paste, to highlight. Done. This was the third incarnation of doing something pleasing with this set of three. If it didn't work, they would have gone into the garbage.

A friend gave me a small Visual Journey art journal for Christmas. The other night, after watching a few videos on YouTube, I sat watching television, and tearing up 2 pieces of painted deli paper I had hanging around. I glued those pieces with a Uhu glue stick, smoothing them down with an old credit card. This little step helps the glue to adhere properly. I then cut up some random Gel prints from the growing stack to fit this journal, and added them with wide Washi tape. Hint: put glue under the Washi tape as well. Works like a charm, and your tape will not curl up. The purpose of this was to just get color down on the white pages without thinking about it. I purposely left large white spaces for paint.

Yesterday I sat in the studio, grabbing random paints (not Golden, as they will make your journal pages stick together), and started painting in with a palette knife, my fingers, and cosmetic sponges. I stenciled, I wrote, covered up what I wrote with more deli paper, and just let the process fly. No thinking, no worries, no plans.

I left a few hours later to pick up the dogs from the Playground. Can't tell you how good that felt. THE best stress relief ever. And I learned that I am still too tightly wound in my art, that I need to be loose. I am also learning to cover up what does not appeal to me. Paint over it, collage over it, whatever it takes, get it off the page as soon as you realize it's crap to your eye. That is pure empowerment, something we all need today.

Have a good one.
Linda