Having all caught up with my DLP art journal prompts, I have turned my attention to catching up on all my missed Life Book lessons. The first lesson I tackled was delivered by Flora Bowley and was about painting intuitively and layering a painting by adding, removing, covering up and revealing elements. While I feel I am getting better at intuitive painting that works towards a more focused objective – such as creating a face – I really do not seem to chime with intuitive abstract painting. It is definitely useful to learn what one is not good at as well as what one actually has potential in. Intuitive abstract painting and I don’t create much spark of potential.
Life Book lessons have taught me that artwork often goes through an ugly phase and that it is necessary to just keep ploughing forwards so that all the disparate, clashing elements pull together into a cohesive and visually appealing whole. This piece, however, went through an ugly phase which I added to and took away from and still it was ugly. I added and removed some more. Still ugly. I scraped white paint across the whole thing. Much paler but no less ugly. Smeared more paint on. Better, much better, but still ugly. Then I was bang out of time so I quickly did a bit of utterly thoughtless printing with objects and mark-making.
Ugly but lesson completed. Lesson learned. Mission accomplished and I am totally OK with it.
A Pict in PA 
How did you create those divots? They look dimensional…like you pushed a pencil eraser into some molding paste or something. Or is it shading?
No, they are dimensional. I don’t think my shading could ever be that accomplished. 😀 On a previous layer, I had dotted on some fairly heavy bodied acrylic. That layer got almost entirely obliterated (because it really just was too ugly) but the texture of the dots of paint remained. The tactile effect they have contributed to this piece is one of the few things I like about it.
I love this…so simple, yet so much to look at. Wonderful!
Thank you. It’s definitely simple. It’s hard for me to like it when it caused me so much annoyance with its ceaseless ugliness and its consumption of so much paint.
I can relate to THAT statement!! It looks great!
Urgh, I too was on a mission to complete some Lifebook lessons. But this one is still stuck on my desk 😉 Haven’t done any arting yet this last week, and it is starting to bug me. It may look simple, but dang, I know it isn’t 😀 I love the turquoise and the pink, very summery
Thanks. I like the turquoise too but overall I’m not best pleased with my outcome on this one. This style just isn’t a good fit for me.
I hope you get some art time soon, Krisje. I definitely feel better within myself if I’ve had time in which to be creative.
I know what you mean. I feel stuck lately. In my case it’s not that I don’t HAVE the time, I don’t always get around to it. i am so far behind in Lifebook – although you can never get behind – but it is getting me demotivated 😉
I am two weeks behind again. Summer has not been good for keeping on track.
True, but there are fun things happening that make me behind 🙂 i was alone this evening, so i did the first two lessons of artjournaling summer school! Yeah!
I imagine lots of us are falling behind during the summer months between travel, visiting guests and doing other things with our time.
I think the page is fantastic with all the texture,colors, and mark making involved. I do agree that something this nice will undergo an ugly phase most especially if there were many layers involved as you have stated. Yet, the finished piece is a looker.
Thank you, Carrie Lynn. That’s very kind of you.
Laura, I think your abstract intuitive work is better than you give yourself credit for. There’s lots to think about in terms of the ovoid shapes, the dots like aboriginal painting and small crosses that dot the landscape. I find the whole very pleasing.
Thank you very much, Hannah. I appreciate your encouragement.