Week of March 29, 2021
Hello everyone I hope this post is finding you happily covered in paint (or your choice of creative medium). I thought it would be fun to share with you once a week what I am getting up to in my little creative corner. Some weeks I might include a video but in the interest of just getting on with sharing here on my site I decided to just write a little and include some photos. I do very much love videos and plan on making a lot to share here on the site but today after filming one I wasn’t very happy with I decided to change plan rather than delay the work.
Do you find as a creative that you do that a lot as well? I feel it’s one of the biggest perks of being creative is the ability to look at what you planned to do versus what you actually did and go, “well how do we make this work?”
I am drawn to the eclectic and the whimsical and my favorite art teachers are no exception. I am currently taking a class from Juliette Crane: Whimsical Animals and made a really fun page in my art journal. The colors were inspired by a class Tamara LaPorte did on painting an owl but the shape of the owl I feel was more what I learned in Juliette’s class. I am planning on making more of these little guys along with other woodland animals as I continue through the course and as I find my style within it I am planning some fun collage sheets that I can’t wait to share with you.
I also took a class from Tamara LaPorte called Sacred Trees. I have been seeing an image of a magical forest in my mind and was wondering how to go about creating it. Should it be done in acryllics? Watercolors? Pencil? Mixed Media? Also the biggest challenge is I wanted to include little fairies and couldn’t see how I was going to accomplish that in a way I would be happy with. I was feeling a little unsure and when I saw this class it was just the inspiration I needed to get over the hump. I created the piece from the class then right after created my magical woodland and in the process of creating that scene the way to make the fairies just came to me and I couldn’t be happier!
Do you find when you are creating you need to take a step back sometimes? I find when I have an idea for something and then I want to make it I usually have to think about it a lot. It reminds me of a quote by Burton Rascoe that said, “…a writer is writing when…staring out the window.” I know that when I sit down to create with no clear idea but just start gluing, painting or doodling I can create without requiring much preparation. However in the instance of the woodland painting I saw it in my mind and those creations take a lot longer for me to bring to fruition usually.
In addition to the painting I also worked on 2 cut out stickers. The artwork is mine and they cut out fine but I didn’t love them on regular sticker paper so I ordered some vinyl sticker sheets. I am hoping to offer a mixture of tangible products as well as digital here on the site and stickers are ones I am really excited about. Well, stickers and washi tape. I love using both and use them almost daily in my Studio Journal. I love a sticker sheet and am planning to make quite a few since I love using them. Plus I like to collect them so it sounds like a lot of fun.
Of course another, obvious, project is this site. I have decided to just get going and to start sharing here without feeling things have to be perfect. To, much like my painting, let the layers add and the process to evolve as it does. In the end it will be amazing.
I hope you are finding time for creativity. Please do comment below I would love to hear from you. Or you can join my creative community. As another aspect of my creative journal I am planning on offering regular crafting tutorials, challenges and lots of creative sharing.
Until next time…
-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante
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