continuing on.

One of the benefits of sticking to a daily practice, at least for more than a few days, is by Day 7 or 8, one begins to get one's stride... there is less angst over the blank page and a greater willingness to just dive in and get something on the page.

That thinking has been quite true for me and this week was not just easier, I am also happier with the results of my efforts.

 I think sometimes I am my own worst enemy, and between over-thinking and being too attached to the outcome, I tend to get stuck for long periods of time, usually giving up rather than pushing through.

This past week I chose acrylic paints to work with, one stencil, a piece of punchinello and various types of papers and scraps of cloth.

The first day I expected to do something dark and moody and instead ended up with a blue-sky effect...

Printed paper from the inside of an envelope, a scrap of paper with writing from work I did in an online class and various torn pieces of white tissue paper. Once I realized the paint was much bluer and brighter than I had planned I found it all looked rather like a sky so I went with, using gesso to soften the edges of the paper scraps so they looked like clouds... 

"airmail envelopes taking words across the skies"...

the next day I managed to get a little moodier with paint, gesso and the stencil

I used a scraping tool rather than a brush and liked the effect very much

On Day 3 I finally got "dark and moody"

fabric and paper scraps stuck down with gesso and double-sided tape and then scraped and brushed over top with Raw Umber and Payne's Grey. I was especially taken with the white outlines that formed around the stuck-down paper - that was a pleasant surprise.

The Payne's Grey reads blue more than grey but I didn't care... blue and brown are an enduring favourite

this day saw white and aqua tissue paper glued down and then the whole page covered in a wash of white PVA glue. I left it to dry for a few hours and then went at it paint in various yellow-gold and rust mixtures, scraped on mostly, but some brushwork.

This was my most favourite surprise of the week - I had half-given up on it after the gluing, it was such a mess and so splotchy, but the paint made it come alive like some Italian Rococo fresco...

this is one experiment I will definitely try again, using different colour combinations, making a stash of papers I can use in other work.

Day 5 had me tearing up an image from a magazine that featured out of focus flowers and leaves, using gesso to adhere them in a random way to the page.

Using the scraping tool and heavy body white along with a bright blue and yellow paint, I mixed up some green with swirls of white, yellow and blue and scraped it over the page, at times also using the punchinello. Through the making of this piece, I learned I quite like paint that is not thoroughly mixed, enjoying the random hits of the base colours here and there.

I quite like this page, and was especially intrigued at how the glossy magazine paper lost it's sheen, but still allowed me to remove paint from it than the surrounding paper.

This next page really isn't finished - it was never meant to be left this way, I just had to leave it to dry and haven't got back to it. It's more contrived than I wanted and I haven't yet decided how to deal with that so it sits...

The last page of this week is a light one, with lots of light grey and blue, scraped and brushed and dabbed. The dabbing was actually fun and as I got into it I found myself really pushing on the brush which helped to add some texture to the page.

There is definitely an ebb and flow to this; some days I am far more engaged and interested and others I am just trying to get it done. I lose my way and then find it again, which I suppose is the thing with an artistic pursuits, but I am finding that working with my paints everyday has really made me less afraid, and as I experiment, I learn. Sometimes I learn what not to do but that's often as beneficial as the positive results, and I've found that I can usually turn around the ones I don't like if I just keep at it.

This morning I switched out my tray and this week is pastels, which I know nothing about.  The only paper I put in the tray is tissue paper  - I am wanting less choice for some reason. 

We'll see how that goes.