I had not done much in my Rainbow Art Journal since March so I decided to use some free time to start and finish a page in one sitting. I turned to a blank page in the orange sector, got out some orange drawing ink and some black India ink, a pot of water, and got to work. My intention had been to keep things loose because that is something I find to be challenging. I started out well and it is possible to detect the areas where I let the ink puddle and run and dribble. I struggle with abstraction because I don’t know how to balance the elements and create focus so I decided I would carve a figure out of the ink. Of course, inevitably, I ended up with a too tight illustration as a result. Fail! Ugh. Maybe I should just give up trying to work in a loose, uninhibited, less intentional way.
A Pict in PA 
This is beautiful.
Thank you. You really are too kind.
It’s a great piece of art for your journal Laura…
Thank you, Evelyn. I failed in my mission but it’s ok.
What a great piece. There is so much emotion. Perhaps you have found your balance between keeping things loose and tightening them up.
You are very kind. Thank you. I definitely need to find that balance.
It is a really beautiful drawing! I think the hardest part of being creative is to strive for a goal but then “let it be” and accept what “is”, whatever the end result may be. I strive often for a really tight realistic drawing and often what I end up with is a little looser than I’d like. But people like my artwork and tell me so. Thus I conclude that it would be rude to tell all those kind people that they’re wrong – so I go with it. It seems to be “me” anyway. What I think I end up with is a fairly consistent “look” to my work – and what I see from your work is consistent. I think what you’ve got is a recognizable “style” – it’s possible that what you get consistently out of your hand is not what you see in your head. Squaring those up is a perennial challenge. Sometimes you gotta just put the hand before the head and let it be perhaps adopting the cats attitude of “I meant to do that!”. Lol. If we had a dime for every time I’d ever heard the question “how do I create a recognizable style” from new artists we’d have enough money for a decent bottle of wine. 😉 Just keep working. You’re doing great!
You always write just the right thing and give great advice. Thank you for always taking time to do that. It’s very much appreciated.
I’m glad if my words help you. You’re awesome and I’m honored to know you!
The feeling is mutual.
Awwww thanks!! 🙂
Oh yes – and this piece reminded me of Lynd Ward’s woodcuts – but more loose. 😉
I’ll need to google that. Thanks!
When you do – please remember that I like the whimsy and the fun of your work. Lynd Ward can get “too serious” as far as content goes in my opinion. But as far as a “look” goes I’ll bet you’ll see the similarity to your work that I see.
I’m so glad you replied to this as I forgot to come back to you post-google. I love his work. The use of strong blacks against the bright white really appeals to me and I definitely have a similar way of constructing a face to the way he does. I like the menacing, foreboding quality to a lot of his stuff too. Thanks for the introduction.
I’m glad to hear you’ve googled, enjoyed what you saw and see the similarity between your work and Wards that I perceived! I thought you’d enjoy it. I appreciate the way Ward constructs a narrative using images only. But then I would. Lol! His work is worth reading in printed book form to really get the full enjoyment. Ward is such a classic that you may be able to get printed copies his work via your local library.
Good idea. I’ll have a look when I’m there later this week.
I prefer this painting anyway bc I can’t make sense of abstract. Last night, we were watching a show on KLRU and they were talking about Frank Lloyd Wright’s color palate, and how he liked “cherokee reds” and fall colors. That’s the first thing I thought when I saw this, that it’s full of autumn colors. It’s like she’s the embodiment of Autumn, and she looks reluctant to come in on time. Speaking from my neck of the woods, she tends to let summer stretch out till October and overstay its welcome. I wish she’d stop dilly-dallying and come early this time. I’ll picture your image with her arms flinging the door open wide LOL.
Thank you for your lovely reply. I really appreciate you sharing your response to my art work. Autumn is my favourite season so I love that you feel this piece has an autumnal feel to it.
awesome work done ✅
Thank you!
I’d like to add my voice to the chorus of “this is actually really good”! I love the colour palette, and there is a looseness to it as well. Also, her hands are very well done… They’re always the trickiest bit!
Thank you. I decided to throw some hands in there because I find them so challenging and working directly in ink forced me to think carefully about constructing them.
I love the idea of a rainbow art journal! So much so that I want to go buy a new journal right now and start this! I’m super excited that I found your blog. ❤
Thank you so much! I am extremely flattered and glad to have inspired you to go out and start a new journal. 😀