Day 17 of Art Every Day Month! Wow – this month is flying by! I keep a large journal, really just 14×17 spiral bound mixed media paper pad. It is a larger surface so I can use it to catch ink, paint, glue, anything that spills past an art project. So this one started with the spillage from when I painted a bunch of birds for another project.
I liked this one so much I wanted it to be just perfect. Thinking like this gets me into the scary, frozen place of “perfect” where it is difficult to make any decisions, let alone good ones.
I put the words on and they did not show up as brightly as I envisioned. It’s not perfect. My thoughts became a bit more stifling.
My raindrop ( by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer) stencil has rescued me before, so I used it in a color I usually love. Not here. I thought it was rear end ugly. I’ve ruined it I thought. Now the pressure was off. It was already “ruined”.
So, I wanted different colors, different patterns – out came more of Julie’s stencils.
I wanted the words to pop so I outlined them with a Pitt pen. Still not enough though….
Adding a black outline to the words made me happy with the words.
I need to let go of perfect and trust that even if I “ruin” it I can just make something else I’ll like.
I wish I could ruin things that well 😉
I totally agree with you. When you like something too much you get scared of ruining it – and then you do just that. I get the best results when I play and not when I worry about doing the wrong thing.
By the way – I like the way you show your process in smaller pictures with the text on the side. I had to try that on my blog today. Thank you for the inspiration!
it is gorgeous….nothing ruined …..just fun and creativity that make magic!!!! Happy Thursday!!!
I actually love the allegedly “rear end ugly” color of the raindrops–and all the colorful birds! I agree with Elin…the small process shots showing us how the page developed are great 🙂
Yep. Totally agree with Nigel up there. If only I could “ruin” things and come out with such a gorgeous piece as yours!! And I’ll add my thanks for posting “as you go” photos. They are both inspiring and helpful. =D
Oh my gosh… first let me say I like it…I love the birds and the raindrops.. but wow can I relate… I love something… like my work today… loved it.. then I put leaves on it.. why the hell did I do that.. for me it ruined it… I can’t draw leaves…LOL.. the more I tried to fix it.. the more ick factor arose… I finally just threw my hands up and forced myself out of the room…it happened again today… have to learn to art… and let go.
Wow – defintely not ruined and the colors are great. I know just how you feel about getting frozen with the “P” word. The word that shall not be named – hahaha! I do mixed media and collage and have the same issues. What I love is that you can always add another layer and keep going until you like it. This worked out really well!
I recognized the feeling! Happy ending. 🙂
and voila – that’s how the best journal pages are born, isn’t it? Looks great!
A very happy ending! Nice work!
So great how you fought through the perfect. It turned out so vibrant and full of character!
Hi Carolyn…Boy, oh boy, do I recognize every thing you describe in this post.
Yes, adapt and think sideways. Almost always works–LOL! :):)
I love seeing how this developed and came together… I am hopeless at putting things aside and not persevering so I am always looking on in admiration of people who hang in there and then get great results…. with love queen of the float xx
Carolyn, this turned out fantastic, I really love the layering of the stencils and the birds.
Thanks for showing the progress, it’s really interesting to see how things change and what you like and don’t like.
Big love
AJ
Hardly ruined. Very nice. Terah