Art Journal Thursdays: Something Simple

I know that my work of late has been a little on the dark side. I am okay with that. I love cemetery art, Andrew Wyeth and cloudy, rainy days. Maybe it was watching Dark Shadows after school each day that gave me a taste for stark, Gothic and generally creepy stuff.

But it is June and maybe it’s time for something sunny and simple.

Not a very good photo by itself, but it served as great inspiration. 

Digging through my stash I found a photo of a field of lovely Lazy-Susans. I know that others might think of them as weeds, but I think they're lovely. I first thought I’d try to a more literal recreation of the photo on my page, but I can’t draw. I also wanted to do something fast and simple. So I decided to create a loose representation of the photo, letting the colors and shapes to inspire the page.

If you use a light touch, the alcohol will take off the paint from the ridges and leave the color in the valleys.

I first glued down some brown paper sack scraps and then applied some gesso. I let it dry and then grabbed the three most prominent colors in the photo. I applied paint in three large chunks with my fingers. Once dry, I removed the colored paint with rubbing alcohol and a paper towel. If I took off too much, I applied the paint again and then removed it. I kept doing that until I was happy with the result. The brown flower centers were made by taking a little raw umber and brushing it on to a small piece of bubble wrap. 

There were too many dots so I used rubbing alcohol and paper towels to remove and lighten others. 

Flowers turn their faces toward the sun so when I found this Maori proverb, I thought it was perfect for the piece. So freehand, I wrote it on the page. The whole page took about an hour (with the help of a hair dryer).

It may not be my best work or even my favorite page, but I wanted to explore a simple, sunny and flower-filled day. Don't worry, it's only a momentary, small detour from my natural, dark-side bent.