Studio Kit

Gosh.

Already, having made only twenty of these, I feel like I'm going to have a LOT of these, but also, feel like I'm going to have gotten a lot better at abstract art by the end of it (which is the goal.)

I was going for something a little Chinese inspired (due to staring at a piece of Chinese furniture I own for far too long lol). However, I had painted a perfect black circle at the very top; and when I moved the piece to dry, the watercolour paint ran, which rather spoiled it. So I had to extend it by tipping the paper to and fro - which helped, but in the end, the piece didn't work as a result.

So this one is also kind of a mess. Inspired by Something Lisa Made's explorations in stamp making a few years ago, I decided to make a home-made stamp of leaves. The stamp worked (much to my surprise); but as I started to build on it nothing seemed to work. I did the layers of paint (teal, black/grey and brown) and liked them, and then starting adding collaged pieces. Initially, that little egg shaped thing was part of a series of rings that looked kind of like they were giving birth. But as I was gluing them down, one of the hoops ripped, so I cut out another one, and laid it down - but somehow the new circle didn't work. Then I tried adding other things (collage and paint) to try and make the hoop work, and before I knew it, I had way too many things going on!

And then I realized that leaves weren't abstract, so the whole thing was a wash. Oh well!

After the disaster the day before, I was very tentative with this one, and though I liked the colours I chose for both the background and the collaged papers (that bright blue behind the mottled greens and blacks is quite effective); the shapes were wrong. So this one was a failure too.

But wait, there's more!

I had had another piece of watercolour paper with a stamp of the leaves in yellow (from when I was practicing with the stamp on day 13); so I covered the whole paper with a number of deeper yellow shades to blend out the leaves. It didn't cover them completely; you could still see the ghost of the leaves, so I started collaging to cover the leaves.

Because apparently, I didn't learn the lesson from day 14 - that the focus has to be the piece, not some random thing that has nothing to do with what you're making.

Anyway - this didn't work either, and I was starting to feel a bit like a failure.

BUTTTTTTTTT! Day 15! Eureka! I just started painting the background with watercolour paint, and then added some marks with the watercolour pastels.

I cut out some rings, stuck them down, and then outlined them with a white watercolour crayon. And I LOVED IT!!!

It's like when you're playing golf: every once in a while, the golf gods grant you a great shot, to encourage you to keep playing. Or maybe it's like dangling a carrot in front of a donkey. I'm not sure (lol); but I was encouraged, so it worked, whatever it was.

On Day 16, I picked out some painted papers that I wanted to work with, and painted a background to go with them. It turned out quite monotone (which I'm starting to realize is kind of my vibe); but maybe a little darker than most people might like.

At first I was quite pleased with it, then a few hours later, I didn't like it because it was too dark; the next morning when I photographing it, I liked it again, but as I look at it now, I realize that it's not well balanced - your eye kind of gets stuck on the top two thirds, and doesn't move, despite my lighter lines and bubbles - which were my attempt to get your eye moving around it.

So I'm going to give this one a 6 out of 10. Nice try. Try again. ;)

Day 17, and we're back to that orangey-coppery-rusty palette. It's funny, I don't have a lot of those old book papers, but using even just a bit seems to pull everything orange for me.

I don't like that the focal point is so centered in this piece, but it was just an accident of trimming - I start with papers that are 11 x 8, and trim them down - and in squaring the edges, the focal point got shifted to the left, which made it too centered. Otherwise, I like the movement in this piece, and the colours are well balanced.

Day 18, and I thought I would try a couple of different things. Up until now, I had been painting the background and then adding collaged papers on top of an already prepared piece. This time, I decided to a: move away from spheres (I'm starting to feel like this is 100 days of roundish things!); and b: collage first, and then paint over the collaged bits.

Remembering that I liked the blue from Day 13, I decided to make that colour the focal point, and collaged the blue squares and a rectangle down. As I started painting though, it was just calling out for red, and of course, anytime you put red (or yellow) in something, it automatically becomes the focal point.

And a couple of spheres managed to get in there too. Naughty hoops! Overall though, I liked this one

Day 19!

I painted the peaching background, and then realized that I was trying to get away from those orangey colours - although I'm starting to realize that maybe it's just me. lol (After all, I have had terra cotta something as a focal point in my house for nearly thirty years - whether it's painted walls, furniture, or currently, my living room carpet.)

So I decided to try and cover most of the background, use some of that blue, and try and really think about composition.

In the end, I think this is the most successful piece of this group of ten. I'm quite pleased with it, and may even frame it for myself, though lord knows, I already have quite a lot of art on my walls!

Day 20.

I wanted to try and get away from the orange, so I started with a painted green background, and this time, my whole focus was to try and get the focal point on an angle; and then build around it. The bottom part of that rectangle was not a rip in the whole, but two separate pieces.

After laying those two pieces down, it seemed to call out for a red square on that bottom right. And then another one, and another one, and then, sure, one more.

Looked at it for awhile... solid red squares! Threw a few of those on, and then some random mark making with the paintbrush to add some interest, and Day 20 was done.

It feels like some kind of accomplishment to get here, I have to say, although there's a long way ahead (another 80! best not to think about it!)

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I know last time I posted, I was going to also share with you my progress on the 52 week stitch challenge. The woman who was hosting it likes to stitch on paper, so there was quite a bit of stitching on paper.

I got to week 9 (remember, I was trying to catch up on that one too); and my hands went into a huge arthritic flare, and I couldn't stitch anymore. My hands were even more swollen than usual, extremely stiff and painful. It's been about a week since I stopped, and the right side of my right hand is *still* throbby and my pinky is very willing to send sharp bolts of pain up my arm when I wash my hands and such. (Boo! Hiss!)

So, I wrote to the host and asked if I could stitch on cloth instead of paper, and she said that there are some things she has planned that just won't work on cloth. She suggested that I use an awl to punch holes in the paper first, and then stitch, (:/) but I decided that I'd rather work on my own embroidery projects than hers. lol

So I expect that once I can comfortably stitch again, I'll be showing progress on my woodpecker series.

Hope you're all as well as you can be. Be kind to one another and yourself - this is a very challenging, very sad, and frankly, a very frightening time, if you live in North America.

Dang. I teared up as I wrote that!

Phew. Sorry about ending on a downer. Sending you comforting vibes. (Thoughts and prayers! lol)

Talk in another 10 days - or possibly sooner with some stitching on a bird.

Kit