Susan speaks:
At Art and Soul I took a Journal Spilling class from Diana Trout. She provided very good product information and had lots of stuff for us to sample. One of my favorites was pens that provide a very strong resist so you can put watercolor or washes over them yet they still shine through.
She spent some time talking about being sure you banish your "Inner Critic" from your art environment. This was pretty much contrary to what I do. My Inner Critic stands right behind me and she talks to me constantly, telling me I can do better, or that I should try something different, or that something sucks and it's time to throw it away ("The horse is dead. Get off."). She often tells me "Damn, that's really good!", although by the next day she'll often say What was I thinking?" My Inner Critic is the one force that keeps me from thinking that I'm finished, that I've successfully conquered Art, and now I can move on to other things. I really like my Inner Critic.
If you've seen some of my other work (here and here) you'll know that I like to use dark colors. No, I don't have a dark side to my personality, I just happen to think black and raw umber and navy blue are really great colors. And don't forget dark grey and Payne's grey. Some of the class supply lists this time said to bring some of your favorite paint colors so I thought this would be a good opportunity to get outside of my "comfort zone" and try some paler colors and "lighten up" my art work.
The picture above is an example of what I was doing in my pages for this Journal Spilling class. The object of the class was to experiment with all sorts of media and try different methods of applying acrylic paint, watercolors, markers and ink to make a background page to later do journaling on. The theory seems to be that if your page has background stuff on it you won't be as reluctant to mark or write on it.
I thought I was doing pretty good with pale (for me) colors. Not happy with them but trying to use them. Diana came by, took one look, and said, "Oh, no! You need to get out of your comfort zone. Use more intense colors!".
Yes!!! Little did she know, I was out of my comfort zone. But who am I to argue with an instructor who just gave me a break? I dumped those wimpy colors and went straight for my favorite black:
For the record, I don't journal. If I write something that is journal-like you can be sure it is 100% fiction.
3 comments:
Hey, what happened to my comment? It disappeared! Ditch the one that went too soon, will ya'? Anyway, love what you have done and I say always use at least a little bit of colors you love when crawling out of your comfort zone. It will make you feel more grounded while exploring!
I know you never answer questions left by your comments but, some day I'm gonna' track down that wife of yours and get her after you... I would love to know if you are going to be having a vendor table at Art Unraveled?
Ah yes, the darker colours definitely become you Susan. Do you wear darker colours as well?
Are you sure you don't have a black trenchcoat? Seriously, the pastels are NOT you....little did she know.
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