experimental

When it comes to actually painting in my journals, I typically like to have the right kind of paper. Not necessarily high quality artist paper but something thicker, usually inexpensive watercolor paper. Since I began making these more scrappy type of journals with lots of recycled paper, I've noticed that I've been relying more on pen and ink than paint for coloring my pages and that's fine--I love it--but I miss my paint! So when I started thinking about this latest journal, I knew wanted to be able to incorporate more paint on the pages and that meant either adding lots of watercolor paper (expensive) or getting over my apprehension of painting on thinner papers and work with what I have. I decided on both.

Here, I've painted right on top of a Starbucks pamphlet. In the first picture I painted on some old ledger paper. Below are are 2 different watercolor papers, one cheap, one more expensive. And you know what? I love them all. I have noticed that some of the thinner papers do buckle a bit under the moisture of the paint but actually not as much as I thought they would. So my experiment is a success. I have now successfully overcome my worry of having to have the "right" paper in order to paint freely and have once again been reminded that using what you have is just as good as holding out for the Best and may even open up opportunities to be creative that you hadn't even thought of before!

What assumptions, expectations or other beliefs are holding you back from doing your best work?

Comments

[donnalee]

wonderfully lovely experiment you have going on in your journal...thank you much for sharing! :)

[Lianne]

I'm in that exploration stage of different papers and mediums too. I've drawn the line at paper experimentation but I'm hoping to delve into more unusual journal pages made of carpet or tile too. Layering papers and pasting them together produces some interesting results I've found. Note 'interesting', not 'predictable'.

I assume that I other people take my artwork too seriously and that's always put pressure on me to do my best or what i think they wanted to see when all I want to do half the time was make a mess and try new things. I think it's helped now that I turn round to people and say 'I'm not an artist anymore, I'm playing for now' as I've taken the pressure off myself. They still treat my work exactly the same but I don't feel like I'm held back. It's made me try things people would never expect of me and I'm much happier creatively, just playing, and in a way it's made me more productive and more interesting artistically. At the same time though it's FUN rather then a performance.

[melissa]

I love your journals.

I'm also working with thinner paper this time around and it isn't nearly as fun as thick paper. I don't know... yeah buckling doesn't bother me as much as it bothers other people, but it's a pain when I'm trying to glue something on but it won't stick because the surface is too curvy! :/

[patsy]

Great post! Got me thinking about what holds me back, I am sure there is a lot! Love your handwriting! Patsy from HeARTworks

[dani]

These are beautiful. I love the colors in the last one... gorgeous.

I can't worry about paper too much - that leads me to worry about all kinds of other things and it completely messes up my process. I'm a worrier though! I do tend to "thicken up" my pages by lots of layering of different papers. I think that helps, though it makes for a very thick journal.

There is SO much that holds me back from creating these days! Mostly, the expectations I think people have of what I create, from when I scrapbooked. My journaling pages are just not the same and it makes me fearful that it's just not any good. Which is silly really, because who the heck cares... but I think I still carry all kinds of junk in my head from art classes. Can't shake it out!

[Caatje]

Just lovely. Your journals blow me away.

[Shannon Ganshorn]

I love the "one september afternoon" page and how you did the oranges and little leaf pattern. You are a HUGE inspiration for me!

shannon ganshorn
www.musingsonrealities.blogspot.com