Next lesson of Juliette Crane‘s Whimsical Animals online classes! This next unit is Art Journaling in which we keep it all simple and try creating a mixed media painting in less than 9 minutes. Well, I emphasize “try” because as usual, it took more than that for me, since I’m such a perfectionist and constantly stuck in the middle trying to decide the next step! We start with random collage papers on our sketchbook (Strathmore’s 9×12″ Visual Journal for Mixed Media) before applying paint around it. Papers included a bit of lokta paper, magazine tear-outs, paper napkins and wrapping paper.
So far so good! Although Juliette paints her signature owl, I knew from the beginning that I wanted to go for a cat. That went pretty well but I was dissatisfied with the background and kept going back and forth on it, adding layer after layer. In the end, I settled for yellow which is a color I hardly use as background but took the plunge anyway and was very happy with it! Introduced more collage papers including a some old origami papers and craft punch cutouts of flowers and a teddy bear. A few doodles with paint pen and incorporate some bling with glitter glue and I was done! Very happy with my cute little kitty now. Se even looks a bit like Hello Kitty without the ribbon haha!
And here are the art supplies used apart from the collage papers. Acrylic paints by Golden in yellow and green gold which are more fluid, but for white I preferred the standard consistency by Amsterdam. Holbein makes a beautiful range of Luminous colors, ie fluorescent, the orange being selected for the kitty’s collar. Paint pens were the usual Molotow ones. For the glitter, I went for a variety: Marabu, Art by Marlene (for crafts) and Acryl Gouache in Lame clear which I had purchased in Japan.
And how did I fare? For an art journal, I found this session rather intense. It’s all about letting go and seeing where the painting takes us, but since I knew exactly what I had in mind and was determined to go for it, I was pulled in between intuition and intent. It all went well in the end, but after a few hours as opposed to a few minutes! No matter how simple you wish your painting be, you’ll always end up changing it to your liking. For my further development, I am going to stay with this unit, art journaling, before proceeding to the next lesson. So do watch this space for more!
My Kawaii Quarter 