Art Journal Joy: Seeking Progress Over Perfection

Lately, my art journaling hasn't been very satisfying. It has been driven mainly by the need for a blog post about art journaling. While that's been forcing to make something each week, I haven't always enjoyed the process or liked the final page.

I feel like I need a project that helps me improve a skill that I can use in my art journaling. It needs to be a daily project like sketching or lettering or faces or watercolor flowers. I've been thinking about this idea and yesterday I made the decision to follow through and pick a project and start it and work on it daily for the month of August.

So, I cut some sheets of watercolor paper to 6x8" and stamped the date on each one. I decided to spend 10 minutes each day practicing watercolor flowers because it's something that I have been enjoying this summer and there is so much to learn.   Thankfully, Pinterest and Instagram and YouTube are full of tutorials to help me learn and keep me inspired.

It's a little scary to share pages that are not going to be pretty or perfect. However, I need to do this and I want to share the process. Maybe I'll learn that I'm rubbish at watercolor flowers but what I'm hoping to learn is that I can get better with a daily practice.

I will share my pages on Instagram each day and I'll share my progress here each Friday.

I only started yesterday so this week I have one watercolor flower to share.



I found a tutorial on YouTube for painting watercolor tulips. My first flower (the one on the left) didn't  turn out like the video so I tried to combine what I saw with my abstract watercolor floral techniques to create the one on the right.

Here are some closeups.





I hope you'll follow along and cheer me on. If you have any tips or techniques to share or a favourite YouTube channel with great videos, please leave a note in the comments.

Here's to picking projects and learning something new.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Cathie

Art Journal Joy: Works in Progress

This week has been a busy one. I have been enjoying the lovely summer weather with my kids and that doesn't always leave a lot of time each day to work in my art journal. At the moment, I have some pages that are experiments and works in progress. 

I'm still playing with my watercolor abstract flowers. I have so much fun making them that they are a great way to jump start my creative process. If I don't know what to do, I just start making flowers. My watercolors and paper are always on my desk so it's easy to just start painting.





I've been experimenting with new ways to make the flowers and different ways to hold my brushes. I'm also trying different brushes and different color combinations. Playing and experimenting is a great way to learn.





And sometimes, I just make a mess. This page might become something or I might just throw it in the garbage. It's all a part of the process.



It's important to me to be creative each day.  I don't art journal everyday but it is one of the places where I express my creativity. I can make mistakes or experiment in my art journal. I have learned and continue to learn so much. It doesn't matter if what I make is pretty or even finished. It just matters that I make something.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Cathie

Finger Painting Abstract Flowers with Dina Wakley Paints

Recently, I bought the new colors of the Dina Wakley Heavy Body Paints. I like heavy body paints because they can do so many different things. They are thick enough for impasto techniques and the paint holds the marks of palette knives, brushes and tools - like the Finnabair texture brushes.  You can turn it into a soft body paint using soft gel medium. You can also turn it into a glaze using acrylic glazing medium.  Dina has a jar of acrylic glazing medium in her line but I haven't tried it yet.




When I got the new paints, I made swatches right away to see what everything would look like.



I store this with my paints.  This is as organized as I get because I'd rather be creating and painting.



While I was writing this post, I discovered that Ranger has created a couple of free pdf downloads for the Dina Wakley paints. They have a color chart and a paint mixing chart. I downloaded the mixing chart and added it to my bin.

Using all the new colors and my fingers I made this piece. I started with the background and then added the flowers on top.



To create the flowers, I mixed Blackberry Violet, Magenta, Fuchsia, Turquoise, Night and a little white with my finger while the paint was wet to get the swirly look. I didn't have a plan, I just went with it until I was happy.






I added a wash of watered down white paint over the top and then wiped it back with a baby wipe.



I painted the stems after everything was dry with a thin brush and Dina's new Evergreen paint.



Do you see the text in the background in this shot? That's from an old Hero Arts stamp called Friend Definition. I like to use this stamp instead of text because it adds texture without adding bulk.

I love having these paints in my stash. They are versatile and the color palette is what  I would make for myself if I had a line of paints. I'm not sure about colorfastness and if they fade when exposed to sunlight. I've sent an email to Ranger and I'll let you know what they come back with.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cathie