Finding Creativity After 40 | Surprising Benefits from Making More Art

00:55:08
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM80z2jAglY

Zusammenfassung

TLDRThis video chronicles an artist's 18-month journey from detailed colored pencil work to exploring mixed media and abstract art. Initially feeling burnt out and uncreative, the artist enrolled in an online class that challenged them to experiment with looseness and abstraction. Through various projects, including a 100 Day Project, the artist embraced different materials and techniques, gradually finding joy in the creative process. The video highlights the importance of play, experimentation, and self-discovery in art, encouraging viewers to explore their own artistic journeys without fear of judgment.

Mitbringsel

  • 🎨 Embrace experimentation in your art journey.
  • 🖌️ Don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone.
  • 📚 Keep notes on your creative process to track progress.
  • 🌱 Allow yourself to play and have fun with materials.
  • 💪 Art can be a powerful tool for self-discovery and healing.
  • 🖍️ Explore different styles and techniques to find what resonates with you.
  • 📅 Consider undertaking a project like the 100 Day Project to build consistency.
  • 🖼️ Your opinion of your art is what matters most, not others'.
  • 🌈 Loosen up and enjoy the process rather than focusing solely on the outcome.
  • 💖 Art can help you reconnect with yourself and boost confidence.

Zeitleiste

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The artist reflects on their art journey over the past 18 months, starting with their comfort zone of colored pencil work, which they found satisfying yet challenging to complete due to their perfectionist tendencies.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    They discovered an online art class by Laura Horn that focused on modern mixed media, which encouraged looseness and experimentation, contrasting with their previous detailed work. This class became a pivotal moment in their creative journey, helping them to step out of their comfort zone.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    In the first round of the class, the artist struggled with abstract art, realizing it was more difficult than expected. They began to experiment with botanical themes and various media, including watercolor and line work, while grappling with their perfectionism.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    After a six-month break, the artist re-enrolled in the class with a goal to be more prolific. They embraced the idea of creating multiple pieces simultaneously and began to feel a renewed sense of freedom in their work, experimenting with different tools and techniques.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    The artist shared their progress through various sketchbooks, showcasing their exploration of color palettes, techniques, and the importance of not being too precious with their work. They began to document their processes and thoughts on their art.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    They continued to experiment with different media, including acrylics and inks, and started to embrace messiness in their art, which was a significant shift from their previous style. This led to a more playful and exploratory approach to their work.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    The artist participated in the 100 Day Project, focusing on daily sketchbook play, which allowed them to loosen up and explore new materials and techniques without the pressure of creating finished pieces.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:40:00

    They reflected on the importance of keeping notes on their experiments, which helped them track their progress and understand their preferences in color and technique.

  • 00:40:00 - 00:45:00

    The artist began to explore abstract acrylic painting more deeply, creating a series of works that showcased their evolving style and experimentation with layering and texture.

  • 00:45:00 - 00:50:00

    They also started to incorporate lessons from art books and mini-classes, which further inspired their creativity and helped them develop their unique artistic voice.

  • 00:50:00 - 00:55:08

    In conclusion, the artist emphasizes the importance of play, experimentation, and self-discovery in their art journey, encouraging others to embrace their creativity and find joy in the process.

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Mind Map

Video-Fragen und Antworten

  • What was the artist's initial comfort zone in art?

    The artist's initial comfort zone was detailed colored pencil work.

  • What class did the artist take to explore new techniques?

    The artist took an online art class called 'Modern Mixed Media' by Laura Horn.

  • What was the artist's goal in the second round of the class?

    The artist's goal was to be prolific and create more art.

  • What project did the artist undertake after the mixed media class?

    The artist undertook the 100 Day Project, focusing on sketchbook play.

  • How did the artist feel about abstract art initially?

    The artist found abstract art to be super hard and felt out of their comfort zone.

  • What materials did the artist experiment with?

    The artist experimented with acrylic inks, watercolors, neocolor crayons, and more.

  • What is the artist's takeaway for others on their creative journey?

    The artist encourages others to keep playing and experimenting to discover what they enjoy.

  • How did art help the artist during a difficult time?

    Art helped the artist recover from burnout and regain confidence.

  • What is the artist's current focus in their art?

    The artist is focusing on layering, abstraction, and finding their unique style.

  • What does the artist hope to achieve with their YouTube channel?

    The artist hopes to inspire others to explore their creativity and share their journey.

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Automatisches Blättern:
  • 00:00:00
    today I wanted to try something a little
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    different I really like watching the
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    types of videos on YouTube where I can
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    see how an artist has progressed
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    throughout their Journey so what I'm
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    going to do is give you a little bit of
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    a Visual History of my art Journey so
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    far what I wanted to start with showing
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    you is my comfort zone this is where I
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    thought my art practice was going to go
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    about 18 months ago
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    go this is colored pencil and you'll see
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    here it's not quite finished I wish I
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    had to put the date that I started this
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    because I have slowly uh now and then
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    done more and more of this but I will
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    tell you it's really hard for me to stay
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    focused on one of these projects that
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    takes a long time I love so much being
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    able to create details and blend colors
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    and I find
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    this process so satisfying but the
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    frustrating part is it's still not
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    finished there's a little bit to go and
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    look how prolific I was after making
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    this literally the only page in the
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    Sketchbook and
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    so about 18 months ago I found an ad for
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    an online art class called modern mixed
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    media by Laura horon who's an Australian
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    artist I saw the ad online and it looked
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    like the opposite of everything that
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    I've ever done with art I saw that it
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    was all about looseness and
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    experimentation and that is not
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    something that I have gravitated towards
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    or ever felt comfortable with and to be
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    fully transparent I was in a
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    total phase in my life of complete
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    burnout it was was work rated and I had
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    taken some time off work and trying to
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    figure out how to find myself again and
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    something positive to
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    do uh for myself to challenge my brain
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    and to kind of re start re-engaging in
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    life a little bit so I enrolled in
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    Laura's class it's a six- week course
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    and I've never done abstract art
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    before this was the first exercise I did
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    and whilst I think this is fine and I
  • 00:02:32
    did have fun making it the one thing I
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    realized very quickly was abstract art
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    was super hard which was unexpected for
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    me because as you saw I can draw and I
  • 00:02:44
    can control things quite well I really
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    struggled with how do you compose
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    something when you don't have uh a
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    realistic subject matter to rely on I
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    had no clue where to start doing this
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    kind of abstract art so immediately I
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    felt out of my comfort zone but I was
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    also excited by that because I hadn't
  • 00:03:02
    been out of my comfort zone in a long
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    time especially creatively and I will
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    say I also didn't believe that I was a
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    creative
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    person uh and maybe you'd be surprised
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    by that but I thought that I've always
  • 00:03:16
    thought of myself well I can draw I can
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    make things look really nice but I can't
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    come up with ideas on my own and so this
  • 00:03:25
    was a rude awakening to my system and so
  • 00:03:28
    I wanted to just show you some examp
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    examples of things I did in that first
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    modern mixed media class um Laura does
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    have a a little bit of a Botanical focus
  • 00:03:39
    in that class and so I was starting out
  • 00:03:41
    just grabbing some leaves from my garden
  • 00:03:44
    and experimenting with watercolor for
  • 00:03:46
    the first time I think I these were
  • 00:03:48
    using the kuraki uh Japanese watercolors
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    and you've SE that I have a video
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    swatching that same set so this is
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    probably the first time I used those
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    this was experimenting with Line work
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    and dots which is something I really did
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    like to do um just in doodling when I
  • 00:04:05
    was young more leaves here and they're
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    not something I'd really ever spent any
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    time drawing or doodling and so even
  • 00:04:14
    this was a little bit outside of my
  • 00:04:16
    comfort zone experimenting with but
  • 00:04:18
    different color palettes I wasn't used
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    to choosing colors what I started doing
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    you've probably seen in those kuraki uh
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    paint sets they just have you know Rose
  • 00:04:30
    Columns of paints and I would just
  • 00:04:32
    choose three or four that were um or
  • 00:04:36
    five here that were all next to each
  • 00:04:38
    other and like okay I'm going to use
  • 00:04:39
    those five and let's see how they work
  • 00:04:41
    together and so I really didn't know
  • 00:04:43
    what I was doing and it felt
  • 00:04:45
    uncomfortable but it also really did
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    start freeing me up and trying to be uh
  • 00:04:51
    not too judgy and I'll come back to this
  • 00:04:53
    Sketchbook cuz that's the last of the
  • 00:04:55
    pages from in this one from that modern
  • 00:04:58
    mixed media class
  • 00:05:00
    I also did a couple of pieces in that
  • 00:05:03
    first class so it's using those kuraki
  • 00:05:06
    paints uh and I believe these are
  • 00:05:08
    neocolor crayons that I bought for the
  • 00:05:10
    class that's where some of this line
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    work is and then posa markers for the
  • 00:05:16
    the detail and Mark making and I enjoyed
  • 00:05:20
    these but gee I struggled you can see
  • 00:05:22
    here my pull towards really wanting to
  • 00:05:24
    stick with detailed things and also
  • 00:05:27
    trying to explore this messiness
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    um that I really didn't feel like I'd
  • 00:05:33
    had permission to do
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    before uh as a struggling perfectionist
  • 00:05:39
    my whole life these this type of art uh
  • 00:05:43
    satiated those perfectionist Tendencies
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    and so trying to loosen up was a real
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    struggle for me I enjoyed it but I spent
  • 00:05:53
    probably too much time this was the
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    third and actually final piece I made in
  • 00:05:58
    the first try at that modern mixed media
  • 00:06:01
    class and I stopped after that and I I
  • 00:06:04
    don't fully
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    Recall why I know I was really
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    struggling with how do I find the right
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    Botanical to put on here how do I find
  • 00:06:14
    something that's really interesting that
  • 00:06:15
    hasn't been done before so I was really
  • 00:06:17
    excited about this but I just it felt
  • 00:06:19
    like something was missing I didn't know
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    what my style was I thought these were
  • 00:06:24
    interesting and they were fine and I got
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    to experiment with some gold leaf so I I
  • 00:06:28
    learned about a little bit about
  • 00:06:29
    watercolor about mixed media supplies
  • 00:06:32
    but then I stopped the course and picked
  • 00:06:34
    it up again in the next cohort that was
  • 00:06:36
    starting 6 months later and my goal for
  • 00:06:39
    that one was to be prolific which was
  • 00:06:42
    the opposite of what I had been the
  • 00:06:43
    first time and just make make make and
  • 00:06:47
    so I have a few sketchbooks that I had
  • 00:06:49
    going at once because in my mission to
  • 00:06:51
    be
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    prolific I was often working on multiple
  • 00:06:55
    things at one time first day retaking
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    this class
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    so I'm calling This Modern mixed media
  • 00:07:02
    round
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    two I had three sketchbooks on the go in
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    my very first
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    day and I felt so free I was using
  • 00:07:14
    acrylic inks that were very new to me I
  • 00:07:17
    was using charcoal there's some oil
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    pastel here um definitely posca markers
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    and I felt like something in me came
  • 00:07:27
    alive when I did this first batch for
  • 00:07:30
    the first week's assignments in that
  • 00:07:32
    second round of modern mix media and I
  • 00:07:35
    was determined to finish the class this
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    time and not quit and try to keep being
  • 00:07:40
    prolific so I'm just going to flick
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    through some of these things that I did
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    in the second round where I started
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    really trying to get more comfortable
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    with just playing here some more
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    acrylics with different
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    tools practicing washes and then um
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    drawing over top of them and then not
  • 00:08:01
    being super precious initially I just
  • 00:08:03
    had these like these white uh leaves on
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    here and then I started using these
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    pages to experiment on because I think
  • 00:08:10
    the other thing that taking that class
  • 00:08:12
    taught me was not to be too precious so
  • 00:08:15
    that was Modern mix media in that
  • 00:08:18
    Sketchbook in this one this was a page
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    all using neoc colors and activating
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    them to be to take on
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    watercolor uh characteristics
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    sticks with some acrylic paint over top
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    and then neoc color again drawing marks
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    over top and I started here labeling
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    what I was doing so I could remember
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    because I would say if I didn't have
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    this label here I would not remember
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    that these were neocolors that I did
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    this with
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    underneath I resisted doing that for so
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    long because it's like I wanted each
  • 00:08:54
    page to be a work of art or something
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    and if I write on them well that's going
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    to ruin it and this is where I started
  • 00:09:00
    to change my mindset a little bit in
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    terms of these are just this is for
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    learning I'll come back to the
  • 00:09:08
    Sketchbook there's some more so here's
  • 00:09:11
    some more modern mixed media in that
  • 00:09:12
    second round this is playing with some
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    new Daniel Smith watercolor paints that
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    I had and I did this beautiful
  • 00:09:19
    background underneath I loved it so much
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    and such bright colors and then I was
  • 00:09:24
    stuck and I didn't know what to do next
  • 00:09:27
    and I thought what something really bold
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    can do to shake it up and so I painted
  • 00:09:33
    these huge black circles over it uh
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    which is not something that the old me
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    would have done and then some Mark
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    making over top with some posers um but
  • 00:09:45
    I really felt this renewed Freedom so
  • 00:09:48
    let me show
  • 00:09:50
    you again just in the sheer quantity of
  • 00:09:53
    things I
  • 00:09:55
    created right you I wanted to do an art
  • 00:09:58
    Journey there's so much here um and so
  • 00:10:00
    I'm hoping that you enjoy seeing these
  • 00:10:03
    progressions to see kind of the art of
  • 00:10:05
    the
  • 00:10:06
    possible um for you as well if you are
  • 00:10:09
    restarting an art Journey so I'm just
  • 00:10:11
    going to flick through these relatively
  • 00:10:13
    quickly but um in the class we were
  • 00:10:16
    playing with you know just being super
  • 00:10:19
    loose on big sheets of paper with
  • 00:10:21
    different tools and then cutting them up
  • 00:10:23
    to find different compositions so all of
  • 00:10:26
    these pieces that I just showed you were
  • 00:10:28
    all from one larger sheet of paper and I
  • 00:10:31
    thought that was really fun and
  • 00:10:33
    freeing and uh and then we also did this
  • 00:10:37
    exercise with Laura called Windows of
  • 00:10:40
    possibility um and we could choose a
  • 00:10:42
    color and just use different tools this
  • 00:10:45
    is a stable o all pencil these are
  • 00:10:47
    acrylic inks um experiment with Mark
  • 00:10:51
    making I think this is some gouache with
  • 00:10:54
    charcoal over top and here's more inks
  • 00:10:56
    but using different ways to apply it
  • 00:10:59
    and so I really started to embrace being
  • 00:11:03
    a little bit more experimental where the
  • 00:11:05
    first time I took it I felt really tight
  • 00:11:07
    and I kind of had to force myself to
  • 00:11:10
    retake it and and give it a better shot
  • 00:11:14
    this one I was super happy with and I
  • 00:11:16
    would
  • 00:11:17
    say it's not my style or rather I don't
  • 00:11:21
    want it to be my style because um
  • 00:11:24
    although this wasn't uh a copy of any of
  • 00:11:27
    Laura's examples it definitely has some
  • 00:11:30
    of her style in it but where I think
  • 00:11:32
    this one had success and where I'd
  • 00:11:34
    struggled in some of the earlier
  • 00:11:36
    examples I showed you was I felt like I
  • 00:11:38
    really
  • 00:11:39
    had trouble leaving enough white space
  • 00:11:43
    in paintings and so and choosing too
  • 00:11:46
    many colors and so this was an
  • 00:11:48
    intentional practice to limit my color
  • 00:11:51
    palette to save more white space and to
  • 00:11:53
    simplify and I was really happy with the
  • 00:11:55
    way that turned out now here's one
  • 00:11:58
    that's uh got a lot more different types
  • 00:12:00
    of media in it I hated this one when I
  • 00:12:03
    was doing it she wanted us to practice
  • 00:12:05
    Circle
  • 00:12:06
    compositions and there are so many
  • 00:12:08
    layers on this you can see watercolor
  • 00:12:11
    under here and there's I think this is
  • 00:12:13
    ink tense pencil there are um there's
  • 00:12:17
    acrylic paints that I've stamped on with
  • 00:12:20
    bubble wrapp and or used Catalyst tools
  • 00:12:23
    and where I really didn't like where it
  • 00:12:25
    was going cuz it felt too like pretty
  • 00:12:27
    for me um I like where it ended up this
  • 00:12:31
    one it just
  • 00:12:32
    felt I think this was my first foray
  • 00:12:35
    into like trying to do something really
  • 00:12:36
    messy and interesting with lots of
  • 00:12:38
    layers this one again didn't love and a
  • 00:12:42
    lot of layers and I felt like I was
  • 00:12:44
    overdoing it and didn't leave enough
  • 00:12:46
    white space and so I've put acrylic over
  • 00:12:49
    over top of the watercolors underneath
  • 00:12:51
    to try to um you know put in some more
  • 00:12:55
    balance of lights and darks I don't love
  • 00:12:58
    it but I learned earned a lot from this
  • 00:13:01
    and then you can see me here really
  • 00:13:02
    going after more white space so this one
  • 00:13:04
    is mostly
  • 00:13:07
    watercolors probably with either
  • 00:13:08
    inktense pencil or neocolor crayons and
  • 00:13:11
    then some posca over top but again a
  • 00:13:14
    limited color palette and lots of white
  • 00:13:17
    space which is what I was focusing on
  • 00:13:19
    not my style
  • 00:13:21
    necessarily um and I kind of quit trying
  • 00:13:25
    to go after a style I just wanted to
  • 00:13:27
    practice techniques
  • 00:13:29
    and composing things and how to choose
  • 00:13:32
    colors um but I will say throughout this
  • 00:13:35
    journey and I hope you'll start to see
  • 00:13:37
    it I have certainly felt like in going
  • 00:13:41
    through this kind of archive if you will
  • 00:13:43
    of things I can slowly start to see a
  • 00:13:46
    style evolving and I will say I'm not
  • 00:13:49
    married to it um I just have grown to
  • 00:13:53
    love experimenting I'm not perfect at
  • 00:13:56
    keeping that mindset as this is an
  • 00:13:59
    excise straight from Laura's modern
  • 00:14:01
    mixed media class or this is still from
  • 00:14:03
    there but this is definitely following
  • 00:14:05
    more of her style and a prescribed
  • 00:14:08
    exercise I don't love this but it was
  • 00:14:10
    helpful to make it just to understand
  • 00:14:13
    how to compose and how to put big things
  • 00:14:16
    and small things and different types of
  • 00:14:18
    shapes and marks I've got splatters here
  • 00:14:21
    if you're taking a class or
  • 00:14:23
    following um exercises in a book even if
  • 00:14:26
    you don't like the look of them what I
  • 00:14:30
    have found is they're super helpful to
  • 00:14:33
    just kind of learn and almost be
  • 00:14:36
    detached from the result because it's
  • 00:14:38
    not something I would have put up on my
  • 00:14:39
    wall ever but it but it let me practice
  • 00:14:42
    without that emotional attachment here's
  • 00:14:45
    again this these were exercises in
  • 00:14:47
    repetition from her class again don't
  • 00:14:49
    love it I don't know that I even really
  • 00:14:51
    love the colors but again just playing
  • 00:14:54
    with choosing colors and shapes this one
  • 00:14:58
    definitely inspired d by one of Laura's
  • 00:15:00
    exercises directly but compared to hers
  • 00:15:03
    I limited the color palette even more
  • 00:15:05
    and was trying to be quite loose with
  • 00:15:07
    how I drew these I think I might have
  • 00:15:11
    used a skewer for these like
  • 00:15:14
    finer um lines that are quite messy just
  • 00:15:17
    to try to find ways to relinquish
  • 00:15:19
    control so I I don't hate this one again
  • 00:15:21
    I wouldn't choose to do it but I learned
  • 00:15:24
    a lot and it was kind of fun these were
  • 00:15:27
    ones where I felt like I was trying to
  • 00:15:29
    really find my style a bit more this is
  • 00:15:32
    watercolors uh and posca with some
  • 00:15:35
    charcoal my day job is in engineering
  • 00:15:38
    and so I was starting to experiment with
  • 00:15:40
    more geometric shapes in these um this
  • 00:15:44
    is water colors and acrylic inks and
  • 00:15:46
    then I went bigger so I'm going to just
  • 00:15:49
    zoom out a little
  • 00:15:50
    bit so I was much more prolific in this
  • 00:15:54
    round um and I haven't found all my
  • 00:15:56
    pieces but here's two of my bigger
  • 00:15:59
    uh examples of what I was doing not I'm
  • 00:16:02
    not super excited about the
  • 00:16:04
    composition I don't hate them I find
  • 00:16:06
    them kind of interesting uh a little
  • 00:16:09
    busy but again just great learning
  • 00:16:11
    pieces and I keep all of these in a
  • 00:16:13
    folder that I can flick through when I
  • 00:16:16
    need to um but that was the modern mixed
  • 00:16:20
    media class so the uh and going through
  • 00:16:23
    it twice or one and a half times is what
  • 00:16:26
    I felt was a thing that really started
  • 00:16:28
    to to open up uh playing with art
  • 00:16:33
    materials for me so the next thing I did
  • 00:16:37
    after I finished
  • 00:16:39
    the modern mix media class is I decided
  • 00:16:42
    to do the 100 day
  • 00:16:45
    project and because I was enjoying being
  • 00:16:48
    quite loose in sketchbooks I decided for
  • 00:16:51
    my 100 day project and this is last year
  • 00:16:53
    2024 that I was going to do 100 days of
  • 00:16:56
    Sketchbook
  • 00:16:57
    play my goal was to do it every day but
  • 00:17:00
    I was also trying to be compassionate
  • 00:17:02
    with myself and if I needed to skip days
  • 00:17:06
    so inks acrylic inks these are
  • 00:17:09
    watercolors if I needed to skip days um
  • 00:17:13
    that's okay sometimes I did a couple of
  • 00:17:15
    pages in one day uh but I mostly just
  • 00:17:18
    wanted to learn and have fun um I think
  • 00:17:20
    these are probably a combination of
  • 00:17:22
    kuraki watercolors and Daniel Smith with
  • 00:17:27
    maybe ink tense or charcoal I should
  • 00:17:29
    have written notes on here but just
  • 00:17:32
    trying to have fun with my art materials
  • 00:17:34
    and play with compositions and color
  • 00:17:36
    palettes these pages are using art graph
  • 00:17:39
    Taylor's chalks in the earth colors um
  • 00:17:42
    that I found quite interesting just
  • 00:17:43
    drawing directly with those again I
  • 00:17:45
    don't think any of these are
  • 00:17:46
    masterpieces but I my goal was having
  • 00:17:49
    fun and loosening up and trying to find
  • 00:17:52
    me and what I enjoyed so this is all
  • 00:17:55
    still the 100 day project and I would
  • 00:17:58
    highly
  • 00:17:59
    recommend trying the 100 day project if
  • 00:18:02
    you're trying to establish an art
  • 00:18:03
    practice if you're trying to figure out
  • 00:18:04
    what you
  • 00:18:06
    like because it's a way where you know
  • 00:18:09
    you have to do something and so you just
  • 00:18:14
    need to some days you just like well I
  • 00:18:16
    guess I'll pick these colors and figure
  • 00:18:17
    it out so this is the next Sketchbook
  • 00:18:20
    that I was using um so I used a variety
  • 00:18:22
    of sketchbooks for the 100 day project
  • 00:18:25
    and I started playing so I was playing
  • 00:18:27
    with some more color palettes here then
  • 00:18:29
    I started playing with some acrylics as
  • 00:18:31
    well and not exclusively so this is I
  • 00:18:35
    think this one's all
  • 00:18:37
    acrylics um this is watercolors and
  • 00:18:39
    acrylic inks again just experimenting
  • 00:18:41
    with color palettes and Mark
  • 00:18:44
    making um I don't necessarily love these
  • 00:18:47
    I find them kind of interesting but it
  • 00:18:49
    was really just part of the Sketchbook
  • 00:18:52
    play um that I felt met my intent for
  • 00:18:55
    the 100 day project of 100 days of
  • 00:18:57
    Sketchbook play here's where I've
  • 00:18:59
    started keeping notes again on what
  • 00:19:01
    colors I used and here even why I chose
  • 00:19:04
    them here I've got Daniel Smith
  • 00:19:06
    quinacridone Violet quone Coral buff
  • 00:19:09
    titanium and a pinch of phthalo green
  • 00:19:12
    blue shade to neutralize if I didn't
  • 00:19:14
    have that note there I would never know
  • 00:19:16
    that I had some phthalo green in here to
  • 00:19:19
    neutralize the pinks and purpley colors
  • 00:19:22
    and so yay to the value of keeping notes
  • 00:19:25
    on your pages as you're
  • 00:19:27
    experimenting so here here's where I
  • 00:19:29
    start doing I think this is maybe some
  • 00:19:30
    Neo colors with acrylic over the
  • 00:19:33
    top really just try and experiment like
  • 00:19:36
    geometric
  • 00:19:38
    Botanicals um these are pages of just
  • 00:19:41
    kind of leftover paints that I start
  • 00:19:43
    playing with cuz I I hate to waste
  • 00:19:45
    paints and so you'll probably see a
  • 00:19:48
    theme Here of me using left over paints
  • 00:19:53
    a lot to start new pages for next time
  • 00:19:58
    so here's more of the 100 day project in
  • 00:20:00
    different sketchbooks this one doesn't
  • 00:20:02
    have very many but this is where I got
  • 00:20:04
    some stable o Woodies and we're starting
  • 00:20:06
    to experiment in different ways to
  • 00:20:10
    represent shapes and play with abstract
  • 00:20:13
    compositions these ones are a
  • 00:20:15
    combination of acrylics and stable o
  • 00:20:18
    Woodies here I was trying to get like a
  • 00:20:20
    rust like texture um that was super
  • 00:20:24
    fun more stable o Woodies um playing
  • 00:20:28
    with geometric shapes again this one was
  • 00:20:30
    a really quick sketch that I was trying
  • 00:20:32
    to do one to loosen up uh and two
  • 00:20:35
    because I have this highlevel goal of
  • 00:20:38
    wanting to create art based on travel
  • 00:20:41
    photos that I've taken not just over
  • 00:20:43
    recent years but over decades to be
  • 00:20:45
    honest of
  • 00:20:46
    traveling here's where you can see I'm
  • 00:20:48
    really starting to let go of having
  • 00:20:50
    pretty Sketchbook pages I got a new
  • 00:20:53
    fountain pen for my birthday last year
  • 00:20:56
    and I was very excited about it and I
  • 00:20:58
    wanted to try different ways of using it
  • 00:21:00
    the old Renee would have never wanted to
  • 00:21:02
    waste Sketchbook pages on this but now
  • 00:21:04
    I'm learning just to use my Sketchbook
  • 00:21:07
    as a safe place so color swatches from
  • 00:21:10
    these ad doent drawing pencils here's me
  • 00:21:14
    doing color mixing and this is while I
  • 00:21:16
    was camping I believe on a camping trip
  • 00:21:19
    and I had a handful of neocolor toal
  • 00:21:22
    crayons and I was playing with color uh
  • 00:21:25
    color mixing though so I'll zoom in a
  • 00:21:27
    little bit
  • 00:21:30
    and trying to write down the recipes of
  • 00:21:33
    blending those
  • 00:21:34
    colors together and I'll show you or
  • 00:21:37
    coming up in a couple Pages you'll see
  • 00:21:39
    what I was uh trying to blend colors for
  • 00:21:43
    um this is using a Karen Dash gouache
  • 00:21:48
    set that comes in pans the first time I
  • 00:21:50
    was using it so I I painted it out not
  • 00:21:52
    in a particularly beautiful or neat or
  • 00:21:54
    detailed way just to remember the colors
  • 00:21:57
    and to see what they look like so a
  • 00:21:58
    different method of
  • 00:22:00
    swatching and here playing with I feel
  • 00:22:03
    like my engineering brain is definitely
  • 00:22:07
    coming out for this page but definitely
  • 00:22:09
    limited palette here again and just
  • 00:22:12
    playing with different lines and marks
  • 00:22:14
    and
  • 00:22:15
    compositions completely different here
  • 00:22:18
    this is all I think this is a
  • 00:22:20
    combination of Neo colors and the Karen
  • 00:22:23
    Dash gouache um and playing with using
  • 00:22:26
    like a doodle to
  • 00:22:28
    um start much like I did in my YouTube
  • 00:22:31
    video just before this one here's where
  • 00:22:34
    here's why I was playing with these
  • 00:22:36
    neocolor swatches and color mixing is
  • 00:22:39
    because I wanted to do intuitive you
  • 00:22:42
    know semi-abstract
  • 00:22:44
    is version of uh thinking about the
  • 00:22:48
    Oregon coast and all of the kind of
  • 00:22:51
    Rocky out crops there and the water
  • 00:22:54
    splashing against it so I didn't have a
  • 00:22:56
    photo for this but it was really fun
  • 00:22:59
    playing with it and I'll will tell you
  • 00:23:00
    gee it looked ugly at some of the early
  • 00:23:02
    phases and I wish I had have taken
  • 00:23:04
    progress photos of this um but just
  • 00:23:06
    layering and layering between the Karen
  • 00:23:08
    Dash gouache and the Neo colors and
  • 00:23:11
    playing around with different marks that
  • 00:23:14
    um this is something that I dearly want
  • 00:23:17
    to experiment with more um if you're
  • 00:23:20
    interested in seeing things like this
  • 00:23:23
    let me know and that'll kind of force me
  • 00:23:25
    to to put on my big girl pants and be
  • 00:23:29
    brave cuz these are a little
  • 00:23:30
    intimidating for me to make some more
  • 00:23:33
    but again this was continuing my 100 day
  • 00:23:36
    project and then because I was enjoying
  • 00:23:39
    playing with acrylic so this is still
  • 00:23:41
    100 day project and another Sketchbook
  • 00:23:44
    more swatches here so swatching not a
  • 00:23:47
    bad thing here's where I really started
  • 00:23:49
    playing with how do I create really
  • 00:23:52
    interesting abstracts with acrylic
  • 00:23:55
    paints and using different tools and
  • 00:23:58
    layer ing that you can do in acrylics
  • 00:23:59
    that you can't really do in
  • 00:24:02
    watercolors just to experiment and some
  • 00:24:05
    of the pages are really liked like I
  • 00:24:07
    think when I first did this one I was
  • 00:24:09
    like yes I love this I love the effects
  • 00:24:13
    this is what I had dreamed of being able
  • 00:24:15
    to figure out and then I just kept
  • 00:24:16
    trying to push and make different
  • 00:24:18
    textures and use different colors I'm
  • 00:24:21
    not a pink girl but I I forced myself to
  • 00:24:23
    use some I think it's fluorescent
  • 00:24:25
    magenta there uh I was trying to get
  • 00:24:27
    messy and play with brush
  • 00:24:30
    strokes this one I really loved as well
  • 00:24:33
    I loved the color palette in this and I
  • 00:24:36
    and also it's you know kind of geometric
  • 00:24:39
    but then also you know just some random
  • 00:24:42
    more organic shapes and Mark making so I
  • 00:24:45
    really loved that at the time and
  • 00:24:47
    continued playing a little bit with some
  • 00:24:49
    of those
  • 00:24:51
    Concepts here is where I started to get
  • 00:24:54
    really messy and so I'd often start it
  • 00:24:58
    has these warm colors underneath because
  • 00:25:00
    if I had leftover paint I would start
  • 00:25:03
    the next page of it after this dried I
  • 00:25:05
    would start the next page and use up the
  • 00:25:07
    leftover paint and then leave it until
  • 00:25:09
    the next day and start layering over
  • 00:25:12
    that this felt crazy to me at the time
  • 00:25:15
    and when I've been look when I was
  • 00:25:17
    looking at it earlier today before the
  • 00:25:19
    video I saw it with a lot more
  • 00:25:22
    compassion and curiosity because that's
  • 00:25:24
    something that I've been really trying
  • 00:25:26
    to harness in the last six or or so
  • 00:25:28
    months is how to let go and be kind of
  • 00:25:33
    unapologetically messy in some of my
  • 00:25:36
    art but I had a lot of fun doing these
  • 00:25:40
    acrylic
  • 00:25:42
    pages I think I what I liked about them
  • 00:25:47
    sometimes I would feel a little bit
  • 00:25:48
    frustrated of like oh I wish I had done
  • 00:25:50
    these on let me go back here for a
  • 00:25:52
    second I wish I had done these on a
  • 00:25:54
    piece of paper cuz what if I want to
  • 00:25:55
    frame it or what if I want to sell it
  • 00:25:57
    one day but I I think forcing myself to
  • 00:25:59
    use the Sketchbook in the 100 day
  • 00:26:02
    project forced me to not have to think
  • 00:26:06
    about can I create monetary value out of
  • 00:26:09
    this because if I can't then it's not
  • 00:26:12
    productive that's the mindset I started
  • 00:26:15
    that I adopted very quickly when I
  • 00:26:17
    started making art so this Sketchbook
  • 00:26:20
    project kind of forced me out of this
  • 00:26:22
    cuz I'm not going to be able to tear
  • 00:26:24
    Pages out of here and sell them and it
  • 00:26:26
    helped me kind of release that pressure
  • 00:26:29
    and expectation and just start
  • 00:26:31
    playing this page here I had a lot of
  • 00:26:34
    fun
  • 00:26:35
    with and was kind of really in flow and
  • 00:26:39
    different ways to apply and layer the
  • 00:26:41
    paint and was like
  • 00:26:43
    channeling big rock walls that I'd seen
  • 00:26:46
    when hiking in Utah and things like that
  • 00:26:49
    but then I couldn't look at it after
  • 00:26:52
    which Probably sounds really weird but
  • 00:26:55
    coming from a person who
  • 00:26:58
    make stuff like this who has
  • 00:27:00
    traditionally made stuff like this um a
  • 00:27:02
    lot of my life to something like this it
  • 00:27:06
    made me deeply uncomfortable to see it
  • 00:27:09
    but there was just something about it
  • 00:27:11
    that simultaneously excited me and like
  • 00:27:14
    grossed me out and now I find it more
  • 00:27:17
    interesting to look at and don't have
  • 00:27:19
    any problems with that but I remember at
  • 00:27:20
    the time just feeling super awkward
  • 00:27:22
    about it so you can see I went back to
  • 00:27:23
    like neat geometric things after some of
  • 00:27:26
    this craziness
  • 00:27:28
    because I felt like I was a bit more in
  • 00:27:30
    control so this is a battle that I have
  • 00:27:33
    internally a lot just this back and
  • 00:27:37
    forth of messy here you go trying again
  • 00:27:40
    being really messy and kind of loving it
  • 00:27:43
    and having fun with it and then not
  • 00:27:45
    being able to look at it and not being
  • 00:27:47
    able to help but think my mom would
  • 00:27:49
    never have put this nothing against my
  • 00:27:51
    mom I love her dearly she would never
  • 00:27:53
    have put this on the fridge uh when I
  • 00:27:56
    was a kid let alone as a woman in her
  • 00:27:58
    40s making this but it just it felt like
  • 00:28:02
    there was some energy I needed to get
  • 00:28:03
    out and experiment with and the
  • 00:28:06
    Sketchbook is a safe place to do that so
  • 00:28:09
    I resisted the urge to paint over these
  • 00:28:12
    I I could have painted over all of these
  • 00:28:15
    this one this one this one but I've left
  • 00:28:19
    them in there and I'm so glad I did now
  • 00:28:22
    it's why I try not to throw any of my
  • 00:28:24
    out away because I feel like there are
  • 00:28:25
    lessons that I learn from these
  • 00:28:28
    by looking back and there are Clues as
  • 00:28:30
    to what kind of art I want to make now
  • 00:28:33
    so you can see I had I was really
  • 00:28:35
    getting into the acrylics there's a lot
  • 00:28:36
    of pages here a lot more than in the
  • 00:28:39
    watercolor ones where I kind of just
  • 00:28:42
    went on
  • 00:28:43
    this massive
  • 00:28:46
    exploration of abstract acrylic painting
  • 00:28:50
    and started to really really love
  • 00:28:54
    it you see now I'm starting to embrace
  • 00:28:57
    like more brush strokes and kind of
  • 00:29:00
    messiness and
  • 00:29:02
    looseness this is experimenting with
  • 00:29:05
    being able to paint watercolor over
  • 00:29:08
    acrylic paint using different grounds so
  • 00:29:10
    this is fiber paste I didn't put any on
  • 00:29:12
    here this is straight on acrylic paint
  • 00:29:15
    this is over a pastel ground and this is
  • 00:29:17
    over an absorbent ground to see the
  • 00:29:19
    different ways that they work so I'll
  • 00:29:21
    probably go back to that at some point
  • 00:29:23
    and experiment a little bit more with
  • 00:29:25
    watercolors over acrylics which is not
  • 00:29:26
    something that I don't think it's
  • 00:29:29
    commonly done but um
  • 00:29:33
    yeah there's this side of me is another
  • 00:29:36
    page of messiness but using leftover
  • 00:29:38
    paint and kind of smooshing the pages
  • 00:29:41
    together so it's leftover from this page
  • 00:29:43
    here smooshing those pages together just
  • 00:29:45
    to see what
  • 00:29:46
    happens really liked this one too was
  • 00:29:49
    really just trying to focus on like
  • 00:29:51
    painterly
  • 00:29:52
    marks and using big brushes and smaller
  • 00:29:56
    brushes and holding the brushes from the
  • 00:29:58
    end of it from the top end so I had less
  • 00:30:01
    control and something about this really
  • 00:30:04
    inspired me so you can see like my
  • 00:30:06
    mental uh
  • 00:30:09
    evolution in accepting different parts
  • 00:30:11
    of me making art so I think so this
  • 00:30:13
    Sketchbook I actually nearly finished
  • 00:30:15
    which I'm super proud of myself and
  • 00:30:17
    probably need to get back into so that
  • 00:30:19
    was my 100 day
  • 00:30:22
    project I'm going to go back to some
  • 00:30:24
    Laura horn classes now this is from one
  • 00:30:27
    of her first class is called The Melting
  • 00:30:29
    Pot what I decided to do when I started
  • 00:30:31
    doing her mini classes was to try to
  • 00:30:34
    replicate almost exactly what she was
  • 00:30:37
    doing I didn't freak out if I couldn't
  • 00:30:39
    get it
  • 00:30:40
    done exactly the same but for the most
  • 00:30:43
    part I tried to copy what she was doing
  • 00:30:45
    if I had similarish materials or
  • 00:30:48
    similarish
  • 00:30:49
    colors and it took a little bit of
  • 00:30:51
    pressure off which I liked and forced me
  • 00:30:53
    to play in a way that I probably
  • 00:30:54
    wouldn't have and make marks that I
  • 00:30:57
    probably wouldn't have but then I did
  • 00:30:58
    something different so I took a photo of
  • 00:31:01
    it and I uploaded it into my Apple notes
  • 00:31:05
    app on my iPad and I started
  • 00:31:08
    brainstorming and writing in there what
  • 00:31:09
    do I like about this and what do I not
  • 00:31:12
    like about it either in the way it looks
  • 00:31:15
    or in how it felt to make it like did I
  • 00:31:19
    enjoy doing certain parts more than
  • 00:31:22
    others Etc and so from this I created a
  • 00:31:27
    bunch of art just from that thinking
  • 00:31:30
    process so this was the second one I
  • 00:31:33
    made um doing you know limiting that
  • 00:31:35
    color palette a little bit more using uh
  • 00:31:39
    wax resist I think these were neocolors
  • 00:31:41
    that I put under here just going a
  • 00:31:43
    little bit deeper on my own Mark making
  • 00:31:45
    I would say it still borrows from
  • 00:31:47
    Laura's style but this was kind of a
  • 00:31:50
    step in okay what would I make next if I
  • 00:31:52
    were to choose and then I went even um
  • 00:31:56
    deeper I would say so here's the those
  • 00:31:58
    two and then I thought about well what
  • 00:32:00
    are the actual marks that I like and I
  • 00:32:02
    really liked these rough circles with
  • 00:32:05
    outlines of them and I did them here and
  • 00:32:07
    I love the teal with the indigo and so I
  • 00:32:11
    went deeper on that in this one okay I'm
  • 00:32:14
    going to make big circles and just use
  • 00:32:16
    the teal and indigo and see how that
  • 00:32:19
    looks and then I did another one okay
  • 00:32:21
    I'm just going to do the circles and I
  • 00:32:24
    used this dipped it in acrylic ink and
  • 00:32:27
    did these like rough scratchy outlines
  • 00:32:30
    of the circles which I really
  • 00:32:32
    liked here's another pattern that I
  • 00:32:35
    liked um this is from Laura's original
  • 00:32:37
    and I repeated a little bit here and
  • 00:32:38
    then I created a whole page of this
  • 00:32:40
    pattern these were just super fun
  • 00:32:42
    exercises that were all inspired by this
  • 00:32:45
    original exercise here of Laura so this
  • 00:32:49
    was using the same color of acrylic ink
  • 00:32:53
    um and then spraying some water on and
  • 00:32:54
    playing with really rough Botanicals
  • 00:32:58
    and then another one using the acrylic
  • 00:33:00
    ink the same pen and then putting some
  • 00:33:03
    watercolor over top of it and mixing
  • 00:33:05
    that in with some posca so you'll see
  • 00:33:08
    even with essentially copying the
  • 00:33:11
    example from the instructor of the class
  • 00:33:15
    it inspired a lot more
  • 00:33:17
    pieces but to generate all of these
  • 00:33:20
    additional
  • 00:33:23
    pieces I had to use this and really
  • 00:33:26
    intentionally reflect on it and take
  • 00:33:28
    notes down and put down my ideas for
  • 00:33:31
    trying the different things which
  • 00:33:34
    basically Set Me Free to create all
  • 00:33:36
    these so I really enjoyed that
  • 00:33:38
    process and from playing with those
  • 00:33:41
    acrylic
  • 00:33:42
    inks here's more that came from it I
  • 00:33:45
    just started going crazy with acrylic
  • 00:33:48
    inks and I was making sometimes like
  • 00:33:51
    five or more of these a night know after
  • 00:33:54
    work or you know after kiddo went to bed
  • 00:33:58
    and just playing with you know how do
  • 00:34:00
    they move on paper what if I spray water
  • 00:34:03
    on them what if I put you know a wet
  • 00:34:05
    stripe next to it making scratches in
  • 00:34:08
    the paper and again not trying to make
  • 00:34:11
    finished pieces of art but really just
  • 00:34:14
    playing and this is where I really
  • 00:34:16
    started to feel myself really get into
  • 00:34:19
    making art with my own energy and
  • 00:34:21
    getting into Flow State um and so I'm
  • 00:34:24
    just going to go through these pretty
  • 00:34:26
    quickly
  • 00:34:34
    you'll see some similar color palettes
  • 00:34:36
    here to what I had done in let me show
  • 00:34:41
    you remind you of this one so you'll
  • 00:34:43
    never know when you get inspired again
  • 00:34:45
    still love this piece that I had done
  • 00:34:47
    very quickly same color palette
  • 00:34:50
    Revisited probably a couple of months
  • 00:34:55
    later I loved making all these and just
  • 00:34:58
    thought they were so much fun I had
  • 00:35:00
    totally forgotten I made these oh I love
  • 00:35:03
    the energy in these let me tell you what
  • 00:35:04
    they are I use I often use a
  • 00:35:09
    palette like this it's just a kind of a
  • 00:35:12
    big plate all of these pieces here were
  • 00:35:17
    from pressing the paper onto the plate
  • 00:35:20
    so this is dry so it won't work but just
  • 00:35:23
    to show you and I would just I'd get the
  • 00:35:25
    paper while this was all wet and just
  • 00:35:28
    press down on here cuz it's about that
  • 00:35:30
    same
  • 00:35:31
    size and get some really interesting
  • 00:35:34
    patterns and so I kind of want to go
  • 00:35:36
    back into these and start maybe playing
  • 00:35:40
    with them a little bit making some more
  • 00:35:41
    layers or doing some Mark making but
  • 00:35:45
    what I like about these is that like
  • 00:35:46
    there's no there's no control here I
  • 00:35:49
    can't control anything which as a
  • 00:35:53
    perfectionist uh can be really helpful
  • 00:35:55
    this one in particular like I really
  • 00:35:57
    like that and I think it's because it's
  • 00:35:59
    also got these dark colors here and you
  • 00:36:01
    can see see there's granulation here
  • 00:36:04
    that I really like and just you know
  • 00:36:06
    very light colors um warm colors
  • 00:36:09
    combined with the black this one's
  • 00:36:11
    really interesting and I feel like I
  • 00:36:12
    want to do something with it but just
  • 00:36:14
    some ideas for you on how to use up
  • 00:36:18
    leftover paint versus just you know
  • 00:36:21
    wiping it up or rinsing it down the
  • 00:36:24
    drain and then so on that note this is
  • 00:36:27
    is a pile here that's literally all done
  • 00:36:30
    like that this is all based on leftover
  • 00:36:32
    paints and I'll get the leftover paint
  • 00:36:34
    and just start painting things so not
  • 00:36:36
    trying to make amazing works of art but
  • 00:36:39
    going back into them sometimes and doing
  • 00:36:41
    extra Mark making you can see on here
  • 00:36:44
    I've got some U black fine point pen
  • 00:36:47
    this is
  • 00:36:48
    white um acrylic ink on here this is
  • 00:36:52
    probably
  • 00:36:53
    neocolor crayon these orange marks and
  • 00:36:57
    you experimenting with different ways to
  • 00:37:00
    apply the paint to get different marks
  • 00:37:03
    um with different brushes and and
  • 00:37:05
    applicators but like I thought this was
  • 00:37:07
    pretty cool uh something that I learned
  • 00:37:10
    a lot
  • 00:37:12
    from the background of this was all
  • 00:37:15
    leftover paints just layered and layered
  • 00:37:17
    and then I tried to do like very loose
  • 00:37:21
    versions uh almost abstracted of like my
  • 00:37:23
    own
  • 00:37:25
    hand this is these are all again just
  • 00:37:28
    like pages and pages of leftover paint
  • 00:37:31
    exercises trying to play with value and
  • 00:37:35
    with composition and with Mark
  • 00:37:43
    making literally just playing with
  • 00:37:46
    leftover colors on my palette seeing how
  • 00:37:49
    they
  • 00:37:50
    layer and they're a fun way to unwind as
  • 00:37:55
    well I find I can just kind of get out
  • 00:37:56
    of my head
  • 00:37:58
    this one I kind of like and there's
  • 00:38:01
    actually something on the other side too
  • 00:38:02
    I'll often do that I don't know if
  • 00:38:04
    there's more here see there's more here
  • 00:38:06
    I'll do them on the front and the backs
  • 00:38:07
    of the
  • 00:38:08
    paper sometimes you know cuz it's just
  • 00:38:12
    practice so this one's got a few layers
  • 00:38:15
    that have started on here with some
  • 00:38:16
    different kinds of
  • 00:38:20
    marks this one was I got a new paint
  • 00:38:23
    tube of Daniel Smith paint J dite
  • 00:38:25
    genuine and was just PL with swirls of
  • 00:38:29
    that and then this is
  • 00:38:33
    indigo water color I think was just
  • 00:38:37
    another play day and like and this white
  • 00:38:39
    border is not painted on by the way
  • 00:38:42
    that's just that's the white of the
  • 00:38:43
    paper and so for me this was a good
  • 00:38:46
    exercise and all these little blue bits
  • 00:38:48
    here I didn't use masking fluid they
  • 00:38:50
    were just exercises in brush control and
  • 00:38:54
    noticing the shapes in between just a
  • 00:38:57
    really fun exercise to learn and learn
  • 00:39:00
    how new paint works and looks and how to
  • 00:39:04
    you know playing with a composition
  • 00:39:05
    playing with
  • 00:39:06
    shapes um and they're all just learning
  • 00:39:08
    experiences here's more of me playing
  • 00:39:10
    with that J
  • 00:39:12
    genuine it's a pretty cool paint you can
  • 00:39:14
    see hopefully it's got some bright
  • 00:39:17
    Greens in it and some black and then you
  • 00:39:20
    like you'll see the the bright green on
  • 00:39:22
    the edges where there's been lots of
  • 00:39:23
    water um it's just it's a cool paint and
  • 00:39:27
    I'll go through these pretty quickly all
  • 00:39:29
    just you know again not works of
  • 00:39:32
    art but just me playing with
  • 00:39:35
    compositions with leftover paint
  • 00:39:37
    different marks different
  • 00:39:39
    shapes how to layer
  • 00:39:43
    things and really just trying to push
  • 00:39:46
    myself to loosen up and explore
  • 00:39:50
    things I see a lot of videos on YouTube
  • 00:39:54
    and they're quite they do really well
  • 00:39:56
    about how how to find your art style or
  • 00:39:59
    you know shortcuts to finding your art
  • 00:40:01
    style and I really believe it's just
  • 00:40:03
    this kind of practice that helps you do
  • 00:40:07
    that and start figuring out what you
  • 00:40:09
    like to
  • 00:40:10
    make okay just a few more things to show
  • 00:40:13
    you this I've got three paintings
  • 00:40:17
    here that were a
  • 00:40:20
    series and I did these following one of
  • 00:40:24
    Laura Horn's mini classes I think this
  • 00:40:27
    this one might be called abstract
  • 00:40:31
    Explorations and I'd never done anything
  • 00:40:33
    like these before I think I actually did
  • 00:40:37
    these before I did the 100 day project
  • 00:40:40
    these were the
  • 00:40:41
    first abstract paintings I'd ever done
  • 00:40:44
    using acrylic paints after spending a
  • 00:40:47
    fair bit of time doing them on
  • 00:40:49
    watercolors and playing a lot and these
  • 00:40:52
    just consumed me for an entire day one
  • 00:40:55
    weekend I love it and again I don't know
  • 00:40:59
    if this is necessarily my style it
  • 00:41:01
    definitely heavily references Laura's
  • 00:41:04
    style there were things in here that I
  • 00:41:06
    really liked and this is why I like
  • 00:41:07
    keeping them on my wall sometimes is um
  • 00:41:10
    it's almost like a light glaze here from
  • 00:41:13
    wiping paint off and seeing different
  • 00:41:16
    layers from The Mark making under here
  • 00:41:20
    and some of the textures so even though
  • 00:41:23
    they're from a class I won't sell them
  • 00:41:26
    because they are heavily referenced by
  • 00:41:27
    Laura's work and that's not fair to
  • 00:41:29
    her they're such a good reference for me
  • 00:41:32
    it's where I was first stting to play
  • 00:41:33
    with drips and understand how they
  • 00:41:35
    worked and I was using a combination of
  • 00:41:37
    heavy body paints and Fluid acrylics
  • 00:41:41
    posca pens it looks like there's some
  • 00:41:43
    neoc color here so they're mixed media
  • 00:41:45
    but predominantly acrylic and I had a
  • 00:41:48
    lot of fun making
  • 00:41:51
    those which maybe you're picking up on a
  • 00:41:54
    trend right now really started me on
  • 00:41:56
    more exploration so I don't think any of
  • 00:41:59
    these are necessarily finished
  • 00:42:01
    artworks but I recently peeled the tape
  • 00:42:04
    off all of them cuz they were kind of in
  • 00:42:05
    process and I hadn't touched them in
  • 00:42:07
    about you know 9 to 12 months and it
  • 00:42:10
    surprised me when I took the tape off
  • 00:42:13
    and could get these nice clear borders I
  • 00:42:15
    was like oh maybe they're more finished
  • 00:42:16
    than I thought these were all using this
  • 00:42:19
    was a leftover paint exercise that I
  • 00:42:22
    chipped away at doing other paintings
  • 00:42:25
    probably from the 100 day project as
  • 00:42:26
    well well and was just doing a little
  • 00:42:29
    bit on it you know every day while I was
  • 00:42:33
    painting them to use up that paint and
  • 00:42:34
    experiment but some of these like this
  • 00:42:37
    one to me has super interesting
  • 00:42:39
    textures lots of drips and then drips
  • 00:42:42
    going this way sorry terrible camera
  • 00:42:45
    angle drips going this way as well but
  • 00:42:47
    really playing with kind of like the
  • 00:42:49
    rusty aged kind of vibe that I like and
  • 00:42:53
    this one unfortunately didn't have tape
  • 00:42:54
    so I don't have a nice clean border but
  • 00:42:56
    playing with Mark making tools and
  • 00:42:59
    layering and getting the dark coming
  • 00:43:02
    through the lighter paint that's over
  • 00:43:04
    top and things like that super
  • 00:43:07
    interesting now closer
  • 00:43:10
    to present day some of the things that
  • 00:43:13
    I'm playing with that I haven't put in
  • 00:43:15
    my videos is I'm starting to I was
  • 00:43:17
    playing a little bit with layering
  • 00:43:19
    watercolors and gash this is inspired a
  • 00:43:22
    little bit by Stan Kurth who is a
  • 00:43:27
    I would say predominantly watercolor
  • 00:43:30
    mixed media artist I first heard about
  • 00:43:33
    him because he was a juror at uh a local
  • 00:43:38
    watercolor competition uh the Northwest
  • 00:43:41
    watercolor Society I believe was very
  • 00:43:44
    interested in his art and started
  • 00:43:45
    looking through it and I was like hm I
  • 00:43:47
    want to try making some things like that
  • 00:43:49
    so yeah I don't know if I love it but
  • 00:43:52
    it's it's very interesting to me and I'm
  • 00:43:54
    thinking it might Inspire some other
  • 00:43:55
    things
  • 00:43:57
    this is a value study using only black
  • 00:44:00
    and white acrylics and different ways of
  • 00:44:04
    making marks with you know the edges of
  • 00:44:06
    pallet knives and some of these other
  • 00:44:09
    like weird tools that I have that I
  • 00:44:10
    don't even think are for paint for some
  • 00:44:12
    of them but I like the Bold brush
  • 00:44:15
    Strokes in
  • 00:44:16
    this these ones here are acrylic inks
  • 00:44:22
    and sui
  • 00:44:24
    ink yeah there we go I remembered right
  • 00:44:26
    SU ink I had a lot of fun these were
  • 00:44:30
    it's a group of
  • 00:44:32
    these that were on it was one large 22x
  • 00:44:36
    30 sheet of watercolor paper had so much
  • 00:44:41
    fun making these and again loving the
  • 00:44:43
    Bold brush strokes and so I'm learning
  • 00:44:46
    that something that I'm really
  • 00:44:48
    into is like energetic brush strokes and
  • 00:44:51
    things like that remarkably different
  • 00:44:53
    from bringing this back remarkably
  • 00:44:55
    different from detailed colored pencil
  • 00:44:58
    Botanical detail drawings um but I think
  • 00:45:02
    these are just some of the keys to me
  • 00:45:04
    starting to figure out what do I like
  • 00:45:06
    what kind of styles am I into what
  • 00:45:10
    materials do I like to play with this is
  • 00:45:13
    one of the last pieces that I'll show
  • 00:45:15
    you just kind of to hint at directions
  • 00:45:17
    that I'm going in I loved making this
  • 00:45:21
    one it's quite thick this is on gessoed
  • 00:45:24
    watercolor paper it's acry paints and
  • 00:45:28
    then also with some charcoal in here
  • 00:45:30
    have I sealed it well yeah it's not
  • 00:45:31
    coming up for my
  • 00:45:33
    fingers and I did use I was going to say
  • 00:45:36
    I didn't use paint brushes but I can see
  • 00:45:38
    some brush
  • 00:45:40
    Marks here so I obviously used brushes
  • 00:45:43
    at some point I wanted to play with
  • 00:45:45
    different ways of applying paint with a
  • 00:45:47
    palet knife and these are the kind of
  • 00:45:50
    textures I got and the layering and I
  • 00:45:52
    thought this one
  • 00:45:54
    was this was extremely satisfying to
  • 00:45:57
    make I love the colors and so this one
  • 00:45:59
    is definitely kind of up on my wall
  • 00:46:01
    lately to inspire
  • 00:46:04
    me one final piece I have a daughter
  • 00:46:07
    she's 12 and she's very artistic and
  • 00:46:09
    loves to draw she is very much into
  • 00:46:12
    Pokémon and Sonic illustration animation
  • 00:46:15
    things like that and so her and I are
  • 00:46:17
    having a challenge where we chose a
  • 00:46:21
    picture some Fan Art Online of Saul
  • 00:46:24
    who's one of her favorite Pokémon to
  • 00:46:28
    draw and paint and so she chose a
  • 00:46:30
    different one I chose this so inspired
  • 00:46:32
    by some fan art and I was having so much
  • 00:46:35
    trouble getting the colors right for
  • 00:46:37
    soble so there's still a lot of work to
  • 00:46:38
    do here but this is like a fun piece
  • 00:46:40
    that I'm working on for my daughter I
  • 00:46:43
    started using gouache on this which I
  • 00:46:46
    really don't have a lot of experience
  • 00:46:47
    with this is not with the gouache pans
  • 00:46:49
    that I'd used for some of the 100 day
  • 00:46:51
    project paintings but with tube gouache
  • 00:46:55
    that I recently bought just being able
  • 00:46:57
    to paint this with gouache I was like
  • 00:47:00
    wow this is going to be a whole another
  • 00:47:02
    learning curve it definitely made me
  • 00:47:04
    appreciate the complexity of switching
  • 00:47:06
    art materials and having to relearn
  • 00:47:09
    again how do those materials work what
  • 00:47:11
    are the ins and outs of
  • 00:47:13
    those so anyway that's kind of my art
  • 00:47:16
    journey to date quite varied and as you
  • 00:47:20
    may have noticed I keep a lot of a lot
  • 00:47:24
    of different things going kind at any
  • 00:47:27
    one time and I think it's just kind of
  • 00:47:30
    how my brain works I love
  • 00:47:34
    to keep stay challenged I don't like
  • 00:47:37
    getting bored um I like working on loose
  • 00:47:40
    paper I love and and in sketch books
  • 00:47:43
    just to see progression oh here's
  • 00:47:45
    something I didn't show I also have a
  • 00:47:47
    lot of art books and I've had some of
  • 00:47:50
    them for years and haven't used them
  • 00:47:51
    very much so uh over the holiday break I
  • 00:47:54
    pulled out one one of Jenna's watercolor
  • 00:47:58
    books and I thought I've had this for so
  • 00:48:00
    many years I'm actually going to start
  • 00:48:02
    trying to paint from it and just follow
  • 00:48:03
    the lessons to a tea so I started doing
  • 00:48:06
    that I haven't painted trees very much
  • 00:48:08
    this was kind of
  • 00:48:09
    fun painted my own version and then
  • 00:48:12
    practicing her styles of brush drugs
  • 00:48:15
    from that
  • 00:48:16
    book to see what I liked I did do some
  • 00:48:20
    leftover paint Pages here as backgrounds
  • 00:48:24
    and to play with a little bit this was
  • 00:48:26
    fun it was good to shake things up a
  • 00:48:28
    little bit and
  • 00:48:29
    to you know to know you know if I wanted
  • 00:48:32
    to do watercolor flowers could I do it
  • 00:48:36
    um and do I enjoy doing it I kind of
  • 00:48:38
    enjoyed this one with an abstract
  • 00:48:39
    background but would I do a series of
  • 00:48:41
    them I don't know but it was fun to
  • 00:48:44
    practice them knowing that I do want to
  • 00:48:47
    explore more Landscapes as well so
  • 00:48:50
    anyhow that's how I've been managing my
  • 00:48:52
    art journey I hope this video has been
  • 00:48:58
    uh interesting for you just to see my
  • 00:49:02
    art Journey so far over the last year
  • 00:49:04
    and a half I got a lot of papers here
  • 00:49:07
    with a lot of different art and it's
  • 00:49:09
    been really fun to look through it
  • 00:49:11
    myself and to see the different things
  • 00:49:14
    that I've tried as I am on this journey
  • 00:49:18
    to figure out what I like
  • 00:49:22
    doing so what's my takeaway from this
  • 00:49:25
    for you
  • 00:49:27
    well I would say keep playing and trying
  • 00:49:32
    different things like these two pages
  • 00:49:33
    couldn't be any more different right um
  • 00:49:36
    if you can keep that play mindset the
  • 00:49:40
    Curiosity mindset of you know what do
  • 00:49:44
    I what do I enjoy what am I not enjoying
  • 00:49:47
    here's some wash watercolor washes that
  • 00:49:49
    I was playing with with different
  • 00:49:52
    granulation in paints they were super
  • 00:49:55
    fun
  • 00:49:57
    um and definitely something that I'm
  • 00:49:58
    going to repeat but you know how will
  • 00:50:00
    you know what you
  • 00:50:03
    like if you don't experiment and play a
  • 00:50:06
    little bit and take note of what you
  • 00:50:07
    enjoy and what you don't
  • 00:50:10
    enjoy feel like I've come a long way in
  • 00:50:12
    loosening up and becoming braver in
  • 00:50:15
    playing with new materials and playing
  • 00:50:17
    with abstract art which has been a very
  • 00:50:20
    intentional path for me to try to
  • 00:50:22
    challenge myself to loosen up uh and get
  • 00:50:25
    away from things this cuz this is this
  • 00:50:27
    is so much in my comfort zone and it
  • 00:50:30
    takes so much
  • 00:50:32
    time that it's I find it a little bit
  • 00:50:35
    less satisfying than being able to like
  • 00:50:37
    knock out a few pages of experimenting
  • 00:50:40
    on things but I will probably come back
  • 00:50:42
    to stuff like this because I enjoy it in
  • 00:50:44
    the back of my mind I wonder are there
  • 00:50:46
    ways that I com can combine my interest
  • 00:50:49
    in doing really
  • 00:50:51
    detailed um pencil work or ink work with
  • 00:50:55
    some of the abstract backgrounds and
  • 00:50:58
    compositions so I guess watch this space
  • 00:51:02
    I started this channel I wish I had have
  • 00:51:04
    started it a year and a half ago to
  • 00:51:06
    document more of this
  • 00:51:07
    journey but I started this channel
  • 00:51:11
    because I was hoping to be able to
  • 00:51:13
    show any of you out there that think
  • 00:51:16
    that you may not be creative or are not
  • 00:51:18
    artistic or talented to show you that
  • 00:51:21
    there's no pressure I'm the only one
  • 00:51:23
    that sees this stuff I show my family
  • 00:51:25
    but then they're not super into it
  • 00:51:28
    they're definitely not into abstract art
  • 00:51:29
    my daughter you know appreciates this
  • 00:51:32
    kinds of thing more but um even just
  • 00:51:34
    having them not be into it has
  • 00:51:38
    reinforced to me that it's only my
  • 00:51:41
    opinion that matters on these am I
  • 00:51:44
    enjoying it am I liking what I'm doing
  • 00:51:47
    am I learning things are there new
  • 00:51:49
    things that I want to play with do I
  • 00:51:51
    know where I want to go
  • 00:51:53
    next and it's been a really fun year
  • 00:51:56
    when I was getting back into this and
  • 00:51:58
    enrolled in Laura Horn's modern mixed
  • 00:52:00
    media class I was at the very start of a
  • 00:52:05
    journey to recover from pretty severe
  • 00:52:10
    burnout uh work in Juice burnout
  • 00:52:14
    and I think that making this art has
  • 00:52:18
    helped me find myself again and it's
  • 00:52:21
    kind of saved my life in ways it's
  • 00:52:24
    brought back my confidence it's it's
  • 00:52:25
    just been great to start realizing that
  • 00:52:28
    I am creative that I'm capable of
  • 00:52:30
    learning new things and to not judge
  • 00:52:33
    myself when I make stuff that looks like
  • 00:52:38
    crap uh and just have fun with it you
  • 00:52:42
    know experiment and learn to play again
  • 00:52:45
    I don't know if I was even very good at
  • 00:52:46
    playing when I was a kid and so it's
  • 00:52:51
    been really fun and but also very
  • 00:52:54
    vulnerable to try to relearn how to play
  • 00:52:58
    and how to experiment as a middle-aged
  • 00:53:02
    woman uh and it's helped me find a new
  • 00:53:05
    side to
  • 00:53:06
    myself so anyway I hope you enjoyed this
  • 00:53:11
    video and I would love to hear about
  • 00:53:15
    your creative Journey so far and if it's
  • 00:53:19
    if it's something that you want to start
  • 00:53:22
    and would love to get back into painting
  • 00:53:23
    or drawing I hope that this has been
  • 00:53:27
    helpful to you to see that yours is the
  • 00:53:30
    only opinion that
  • 00:53:32
    matters and finding the things that you
  • 00:53:35
    like to do and challenging yourself to
  • 00:53:39
    learn new things and to renew that faith
  • 00:53:43
    in yourself and your ability to have fun
  • 00:53:48
    and know what you like and to make good
  • 00:53:51
    decisions about that that aren't
  • 00:53:53
    anything to do with keeping anyone else
  • 00:53:55
    happy
  • 00:53:57
    uh all these unexpected benefits from me
  • 00:54:00
    that have come from Making art that I
  • 00:54:02
    would never have
  • 00:54:04
    expected anyhow thank you so much for
  • 00:54:06
    your time today if you do have any
  • 00:54:09
    questions or feedback on this video
  • 00:54:11
    please don't hesitate to put something
  • 00:54:13
    in the comments if there's been anything
  • 00:54:15
    in this video that has inspired you that
  • 00:54:17
    you would like to see me make more
  • 00:54:20
    content around also let me know um
  • 00:54:23
    because I will say each week I'm like hm
  • 00:54:26
    what I do for this week's video and what
  • 00:54:29
    will um my current audience and
  • 00:54:31
    hopefully my future audience um what
  • 00:54:34
    would they like to see and what would
  • 00:54:35
    add value
  • 00:54:37
    so please let me know if there's
  • 00:54:39
    anything that picked your interest uh if
  • 00:54:41
    you'd like to see more of anything in
  • 00:54:43
    particular and every like And subscribe
  • 00:54:46
    I get does help more people
  • 00:54:50
    see my
  • 00:54:52
    videos which definitely helps the big
  • 00:54:55
    picture to help me grow my channel and
  • 00:54:58
    get some more
  • 00:54:59
    attraction and hopefully be able to
  • 00:55:01
    spend more and more time making content
  • 00:55:03
    like
  • 00:55:04
    this thanks everyone
Tags
  • art journey
  • mixed media
  • abstract art
  • creativity
  • art techniques
  • sketchbook
  • 100 day project
  • Laura Horn
  • art classes
  • self-discovery