MY NEW HABIT

 
I'm still having a ton of fun, working my way through the projects in Pam Carriker's book, Creating Art at the Speed of Life. And, I have to say, I think it's working -- this whole 30 projects in 30 days thing. I may not be pumping out a journal page a day, but I am painting and drawing every day, and it's finally beginning to feel more like a habit, instead of just a wish and a dream.

This fishy page, the last of the projects in the "Playful Palette" section, forced me to step out of my comfort zone and use a color I wouldn't normally pick. She told us to think of the color we tend to pick up first (I love warm corals and tangerines), then use the color that is opposite it on the color wheel to create a background. Well, I may not love blue, but it sure does make that tangerine pop!

From there we moved into the "Tactile By Nature" chapter, and played with some fun techniques for adding texture to your pages, like laying crumpled plastic wrap on wet water color, or sprinkling it with coarse salt or drips of alcohol. The only problem I'm having is that I chose the wrong journal to do this in. Most of the mixed-media artists I'm familiar with tend to use a lot of collage, gesso, and acrylic paints and sprays -- things that work well on non-porous surfaces that allow them to drip and roll around for interesting effects. So I chose one of Dyan Revealy's Dylusions journals. Big mistake. Turns out Carriker is a big fan of water color paint, which needs a porous surface that allows it to sink in. Sooooo, some of the fun techniques, like the scattered salt and alcohol drips, just don't seem to be working. Ah well, perhaps if I'd bothered to read the supply list first...