I have plenty enough to keep me occupied, but say "free 3 day workshop" with an artist I follow and try to learn more from on the subject of mixed media art journaling and collage, well, I can't help but sign up. Knowing how Laly Mille presents these workshops, I knew what I was getting myself into time wise and that with each workshop being recorded, I could watch the videos according to my schedule. And my weekend schedule was full of motorcycle racing! Thus I haven't gotten very far on doing the actual work, but I'm already finding this Abstract Color Challenge to be helpful. I figured if nothing else, sticking with her direction to choose just one color plus some neutrals to work with would help simplify things so I could focus on other things. As you can see from the photo, I chose pink, not because I find it difficult to work with or a color I don't particularly care for, but because, unlike my go to's of teal and rusts, I tend to stereotype it as suitable for girlish quilts, not "serious" work, and difficult to sell if used in an art quilt. Time to get over that and see what I can do with pink.
I was surprised at how very much mixed media supplies I own or have pulled from magazines that are pink. Lots more to work with than I thought I would have. But before doing any work on the small 5 x 5 inch pieces of watercolor paper that would make up the series we'd be working on, we were to fill out a questionnaire about color. No, not questions like what are the three primary colors or what do you mix together to get green. No, it was more assessing how we work with color in general, what are your favorite colors and why, and when and why do you try new color schemes or combinations? My answers inveritably hinged on my experience working with fabric, but also pointed out my stumbling around with paints and what colors to have in my collection. She also sent us this link to Color Meanings which had a lot of info new to me. You might enjoy checking out what your own color preferences mean.
Next was doing some journaling in pencil across our watercolor squares, where I addressed pink directly, admitting that I love seeing pink sunsets and of course pink flowers as well, so why not more pink in my art? Day two we could start choosing collage papers and as usually, I floundered. Such a tiny space! She said it was so we would not be intimidated but I found it intimidating anyway because I always have such big ideas and big pieces of collage designs and have difficulty cutting them up/down. I had to sleep on it. Doing my usual mulling before dropping off, I came up with an idea and plan and got it going the next day. Needing to give it more thought and watch more workshop videos, it has sat in what Laly calls "the awkward teenage phase". Oh, yeah, lots of awkwardness there but with her next steps suggestions, I can see how to get past it now.
In the meantime, the birches out back have given way to autumn and our cooler weather, as have other trees in the neighborhood. We are to get quite a bit of rain this week so spending time reading and working on the challenge and getting back to sewing should be easy to fit in (she says with a laugh). I leave you with Susan Gaylord's wish:
"May autumn's bounty sustain and comfort us as the days shorten and the light recedes."
3 comments:
Ah, the problem with pink. I enjoyed this very much, thinking about my own pink dilemma lately. All the things you don't like about pink (and the things you do) parallel my own thinking. Carry on!
I read the color meanings link & learned some new things! Those were interesting & I guess I've never known anyone whose favorite color was white. You certainly have had a busy week with your online workshop & I like what you're doing with pink! Jan in WY
I'm so glad you all enjoyed that Color Meaning article and like me, learned some things. Pat, nice to know there's a fellow traveler when it comes to pink. ;-) Jan, um yes - white as a favorite color? I'll have to go back and read what they said about that. Laly does use a lot of white paint as a final step to blend collage paper edges and tone down any color she finds too strong so she could say white was a favorite color to use as a tool I guess. And Sherrie, I had to stop and think about your saying pink is one of your happy colors. I don't immediately think of you using pink in your quilts. Then I transitioned my thinking to that "guava" grouping of hand-dyed fabrics Judi came up with. Together they read one way but pull out that pink by itself and it is definitely pink. I think I have an easier time using hand-dyed pinks, maybe because they are not necessarily solids and generally not a bright primary, but a bit paled or muted in some way. Anyway, I'm guessing if I sent back and looked at the quilts I've made over the years, I've used a lot more pink than I think I have. And again, going to have to go back and read up on another color, your favorite of yellow.
So fun to have you all chiming in on this subject!
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