WHEN CLASSES COLLIDE

I think I mentioned before that I'm taking two art classes at the same time right now. Can't say that I recommend it, but ever so often, synchronicity puts you where you need to be.

This week, in my Ode to Nature class, we finally progressed from field notes and photography to using these "collections" to make art. The only problem is that my sketchbook I've been using just had thin drawing paper in it, and if you try to put water and paint on that, you end up with a wrinkled, bleeding mess. So I grabbed the visual journal I've been using for my Letter Love class, to play around with these gingko leaves and hyacinth bean pods. With this book I had the opposite problem -- the watercolors just wouldn't spread or blend! I forgot that the visual journals come with different kinds of paper in them, and this one happened to be a "mixed media" journal. What I needed was water color paper. So I went rummaging through my stash, and came up with this.

I bought it at Hobby Lobby a while back when it was 50% off, not sure what I would ever do with it. I just loved it that the cover had an antique feel to it, and that the watercolor paper inside was "a bit rough around the edges." Perfect for a nature journal, no?

The next day I switched to a lesson in my Letter Love class. For this one we were supposed to look to vintage lettering styles for inspiration. I love all things art nouveau and art deco, which is probably why I've been obsessed with drawing gingko biloba leaves lately -- a common motif in those genres. Anyhoo, I found a few words in a simple art nouveau font, and was about to use that style to write some quote or phrase in my Letter Love journal, when it occurred to me that they would make a great title page in my new nature journal. So I wrote Ode to Nature on the first page using a permanent black pen. Then I decided it needed some art nouveau flowers up in that empty space in the corner, so I added those.

Then, of course, I decided it need color. Lots of color. The watercolors loved this paper, but I was left with another problem. Those vivid colors on the bright white background looked too stark and modern. They just didn't fit with my antique-looking journal, and that's when yet another of my art classes came into play. I remembered that when I was taking Junelle's Art of Wild Abandonment class, she always ended every project by "dirtying it up" with brown crayon and some stamped texture. So that's what I did.

I ended up with something that was inspired by all of these teachers, but which didn't mimic any of them. It was uniquely my own, and that felt good. Really, really good.