Lately, my art has skewed more maximalist and energetic. Even when abstract, it’s impossible to separate oneself from one’s work: the joys, concerns, and experiences seep into the process. As Jackson Pollock said: “Art is coming face to face with yourself.”
On Tuesday, I joined A Work of Heart‘s Under the Influence Art Journaling class as a featured artist. I spoke about my background, inspiration, and artistic process, and then participants explored elements I use in my own work — collage, energetic mark-making, and bright colors and splotches — as they created their own pieces.
It was a wild experience and quite a gift to see my work through others’ eyes. One thing that’s stuck with me most, though, is a conversation we had about one of my core beliefs about creating: it’s critical to embrace making “ugly” art.
A few participants found it challenging to leave the background peeking through, like I often do in my own work. Host Andrea Chebeleu used a color she doesn’t often reach for, purple. I didn’t love the spread I made (above). Making pieces you’re not entirely happy with, though, means that you are trying something new or are learning something new about your practice.
Create, notice what it is that you don’t like about it (or any elements that you do), and then turn the page. Or, you could do what I did: paint over the busiest parts and add more collage and mark-making on top.
Here’s the finished piece:
Editing your own artwork can be another step the creative process, a response to your own voice and what you have on the page.
The Under the Influence Art Journaling series is a great way to learn new art journal skills, expand your artistic comfort zone, and dive into new creative techniques (and, if you want, purposefully make lots of ugly art!). While my live session is over, registration gives you access to all of the previous sessions on-demand and five weeks’ worth of live artist-inspired workshops still to come. You can sign up here.
Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you register through them, I will receive a percentage of the cost of purchase.
Last week, I finished up the last pages of my art journal, the whole of which was filled in just over six months — a personal record! There’s definitely something to be said about finding (or making) the perfect book for yourself and your art: it allows you to just jump into creating without struggling with size or paper quality or preparing the pages.
I’m calling this journal Baltimore Journal III. It’s an unimaginative name, in part, because I really hate naming my art, and in part because the past three journals I’ve used have been very similar in size and material.
The pages throughout the book include various collaged papers, tempera paint, acrylic ink, acrylic paint, colored pencil, paint markers, oil pastel, stickers, and more.
See a flip through of my last art journal here.
I started this art journal in early April of this year — I know because I stamped the date on the cover. I am nearly finished with it. Here are some of the final pages, created with collaged papers, acrylic and tempera paint, oil pastel, acrylic ink, graphite, and paint pen.
Recent mixed media art journal pages featuring a variety of papers, acrylic paints and inks, tempera paint, oil pastel, paint marker, graphite, and colored pencil.
