WISH UPON A STAR

 “Comparison is the thief of creativity”

 - Theodore Roosevelt 

 Body Flow 

Recently, I took a Body Flow class at the gym. For those that are unfamiliar, Body Flow is a mixture of Tai Chi, Pilates, and Yoga. This was my virgin voyage into all of those domains, and I couldn’t help but relate it to my art. The lighting was dimmed and music played as the instructor briefly explained the three components. We were told to mirror her to make it easier for us. Throughout the class, the instructor shared position variations that we could use so we wouldn’t be uncomfortable and to alleviate fear of injury. As I glanced around, I could hear my self-talk saying things like, “Does my butt look like hers??” “I wish my stomach was tighter like hers.” “I’m definitely not doing this pose correctly!” I was comparing my physical self to others for no reason. Why was I doing that? The mood of the class was very relaxed and non-threatening. My negative self-talk was because with new things, like this class, comes a lack of self-confidence. At the end of class, the teacher told us to roll onto our sides into fetal position, breathe, and go to a place where we were all alone. She ended with “Namaste” and said how nice it was to see new friends join the class.

Comparing or Mirroring?

As in the class, I have compared myself with others in the past, but then it was my artwork not my body. “I don’t have enough white space”, “I wish I could master that technique”, “Where did they get that stencil?” You know the drill. But why do I, make that we, do that? Face it. There is always going to be someone whose art is better than ours. Always. But instead of comparing ourselves to that person with our negative self-talk, why not mirror their art to make it easier for ourselves. As practice, try to copy someone’s page that you like. I read a comment where someone said, “Yeah, I straight up copied Dina Wakley.” I think that’s ok, as long as you don’t claim it as your own work, and you’re using your art journal as a practice journal. Chances are you won’t have the same exact materials, but try to use the same colors, the same layout, maybe the same stamps or stencils if you have them.

 Breathe deeply 

In her book, Art Journal Freedom, Dina Wakley encourages you to practice with her “Technique” pages. She gives materials list, step-out photos and directions to complete the work. This is a great way to improve your skills. I encourage you to find examples of artwork that you’d like to model or mirror. After you’ve practiced for a while and you begin to be more comfortable with that style or technique, it will gradually become part of your repertoire and you can use it to develop your own style and to create your own art. Making art should be like that Body Flow class – non-threatening, relaxing, filled with possibilities. Breathe deeply and enjoy! Namaste, friends.

 WISH UPON A STAR 

When I created WISH UPON A STAR, I wanted to practice several techniques that I had seen other artists use very well – white space, drippage, paint splatters, and adding small details and a border with a pen.

 How to 

Since I knew I wanted to use the “Wish Upon a Star” stamp (Lost Coast Designs), I chose 3 blues for the evening sky – cobalt blue hue (Liquitex Basics), ultramarine, and phthalocyanine blue (Master’s Touch Acrylic)in that order. I watered down a dab of each and started “smooshing” (very technical artistic word) the paint at the top of the page. I spritzed with water and dabbed off, spritzed, dabbed, until I got the effect I wanted. (Note: Before starting the page, I didn’t apply masking tape between the two pages, and the ink bled onto other finished pages. If that doesn’t bother you, don’t worry about applying the masking tape, but if you like your other pages to remain untouched, then it’s a good habit to get into, especially if you’ll be spritzing water. Lesson learned for me.) With the leftover paint, I watered it down a little more and splattered it on with a paint brush. I let everything dry before proceeding. I was very pleased with the drippage, the amount of white space, and the paint splatters.

Next, I began mixing "Light & Fluffy Modeling Paste",(The Crafter’s Workshop), with antique gold (Master’s Touch Acrylic), cadmium yellow medium hue (Liquitex Basics), and Florentine gold (Martha Stewart)for the stars.

Using the stars from TCW687s "Mini Positivity" stencil (The Crafter’s Workshop), I applied the modeling paste in three places on my pages. I sprinkled some extra glitter for good measure. When using modeling paste, let it dry thoroughly before proceeding. Also, always wash the modeling paste off of your stencil immediately after using!

If you’ve got stars, you gotta have a moon. I glued the moon and each of the tiny, tiny stars onto the page with Glossy Accents (Ranger).

Next, I created a small collage using assorted blue and gold scraps and the stamp and then attached it with foam tape to the left side of the page.

With everything attached, I now focused on the small pen details. I’ve seen how other artists have used a Uni-Ball Signo black pen to outline with a sketchy hand, so I used the pen to circle some of the splatters, outlined the collage, stars, and moon, and even sketched a border around it all. You can see how much of a difference there is between these photos and the previous ones simply by adding outlining to the page. I really like this technique.

One more detail were the tiny gold glass marbles at the top of the page. Talk about a zillion little balls rolling all over the page, in the seam, everywhere except onto the glue that I used to try to attach them... Aahhh! They look good, but I would think twice before using them again.

I was very pleased with how this journal spread turned out. I feel I accomplished all of the techniques I attempted. What are some techniques you've tried in your art?

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and will  join me every Tuesday and Friday  for more posts at arteverydaystudio.blogspot.com. If you do try something new in your artwork, let me know and I'd love to see it.

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