ORIGINAL

 You were born an original.  Don’t die a copy. 

 - John Mason 

 COPY 

Ok, two things I’ve been thinking about lately…
One is this quote. In this day and time of Instagram and Pinterest, how does an artist become/stay an original? So much to look at, so many ideas. So many artists, so many posts. How do you find your style when there is SO MUCH to look at? Think of it as “a kid in a candy store” dilemma. If you read my post, WISH UPON A STAR, I wrote that I thought it was ok to “copy” a style, a technique, etc. in your practice as long as you truthfully disclose that was what you had done. Let’s face it, Dina Wakley has nothing to fear from putting her thousands and thousands of pieces of artwork out there, because she has a style that is so defined. And if we think 
pre-IG or pins, what about Picasso? When he was painting his abstracts, other artists copied him, but yet he had a defined style. Others piggybacked off of him and developed their own style.

 ORIGINAL 

Two, isn’t it ironic that 2 people can be given the same art supplies but yet create something totally different. I think that’s why I love using rubber stamps and stencils so much. They can be a starting point, a centerpiece, an endpoint. Such versatility can allow you to develop your style. I’d love to paint like Mystele or Juliette Crane (mystele1, juliettecrane on IG), but that’s not going to happen anytime soon, so I use stamps, stencils, or magazine pictures to achieve a realistic look and not be frustrated because my images are imperfect. For now, these things work for me in my journey to find my style as an artist. And it’s called a journey for a reason people - because it takes time. Patience, grasshopper.

 How to: 

To begin, I fingerpainted several colors (12 to be exact!) onto my pages. I used the following, but you can use whatever you choose: citron green, Bahama blue, desert turquoise, indian turquoise, spa blue, vivid violet, coral blush, peony pink (Americana acrylic paint), turquoise (Delta Ceramcoat), ripe apricot (Anita’s all-purpose acrylic paint), amethyst, light lavender (FolkArt acrylic paint).

After the paint dried, I applied several stencils using either bright aqua green, titanium white, or mars black (Liquitex Basics). The stencils were Mini Positivity, Mini Geometric Art Layers, and Mini Impressions (The Crafter’s Workshop). Since I had some extra bright aqua green on my table, I outlined the magazine pic I used, and then watered it down and stippled all over the pages. Using a large black Sharpie paint pen, I wrote the quote on her face. I used a white Signo Uni-ball pen and a large white Sharpie paint pen to add a few extra details on the journal pages. I glued the picture onto the pages using an Elmer’s all-purpose glue stick because I didn’t want to warp it with matte medium. Finally, I added the lemon yellow (Master’s Touch) dots on the right side of the page.

I was very pleased with how this turned out. There are several things I love about it ~ the combination of colors, the black and white details, how I wrote the quote, and the magazine picture itself. With all the artwork from Instagram and Pinterest literally at your fingertips, it can be hard to “find yourself” as an artist, but keep trying! I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and will join me every Tuesday and Friday for more blog posts at arteverydaystudio.blogspot.com.

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