LEARNING TO GET LOOSEY GOOSEY

The best thing about these "Art of Wild Abandonment" classes I'm always taking is that they teach you to loosen up and let go of the need for perfection. The project I've been working on this weekend was no exception. In fact, I think it was designed to get us more comfortable with goopy and goofy! We had the option of doing it on paper, canvas, or even a piece of board. I chose none of the above. Ever since I started using this spare copy of Simple Abundance as an art journal, I've been wondering what to do with the cover. I think this project just might be the perfect solution.

I started off by slopping some gesso on it, and spreading it around with my hands. That'll loosen you up for sure!

Next I painted the cover with two or three colors of acrylic paint. Then I took some of those security envelopes I've been saving and used the patterned paper to cut out some flower heads, leaves, and a jam jar vase. I glued them down with gesso, gave the entire cover a thin coat of gesso, then sort of wiped/scraped it away in places where I wanted color or pattern to show through.

The original project went on to add some 3-D bits to the flowers, but since I would be handling this constantly, instead of hanging it on the wall, I decided to leave those out.

All that was left was to add a bit of water color paint and some pen work. Oh yeah, and one of my hand-carved stamps.

I think I like it!