10/28/15 Art Journal Practice: What Next?

Again, I am up against something I learned at a mixed media class. “Don’t get too attached to your page…” It is something I struggle with, almost every day. The class instructor didn’t want you to get too attached so you would be free to add more and more layers. The truth is I do get attached… and I probably don’t continue adding because I am afraid I will ruin what I like about the page. Another truth, is that the result is not the end all. The process is the most important. I know all of this… but I still end up wanting a result that I like.

So when I looked at this page this morning I was hesitant. I wanted to make my Bathing Suit Woman look more like a drawing… or at least add some lines to make her look less like a glued on magazine image. I also wanted to do something with her hair. There is a fan behind her… her hair should be blowing. So what to do. Often times I add black lines in the shaded areas like you would in a drawing and outline image elements. But… and it is a big but… it is really easy for me to end up with an image I am not so crazy about. Adding lines helps make the image your own but it is so easy to let the critical mind tell you anything you add is ruining the image.

So I started fooling around… first I outlines Bathing Beauty’s suit in white. Yuck. So I wet the lines and wiped it off… but it left a bit of white residue… which was okay with me. Then I added a gold outline around the entire image… kind of like the flowers and leaves. It was okay. Then I had a bit more courage and grabbed my black brush tip marker and started adding her wind-blown hair. It is very black… I will need to do something, eventually, to make it not so black. In order to tie it in a bit more, I outlined some of the hair strands in gold. All in all, I can’t say look wise, I have improved the page so much. But I feel like I actually pushed my own envelope and tried a couple of techniques I imagined doing. I also added journaling where I had decided early on would be a good place (where after working on the page was afraid might ruin it).

That is all for now. Hope you have a great Wednesday!

 

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