Artful Journeys Week #3 - Paint It Blue

Our challenge this week at Artful Journeys was to only use a palette knife or credit card to create the background page, and of course it had to include the color blue.

I love working with a palette knife and the credit card technique of smearing on your paint. Both instruments can give wondrous effects of texture, non-texture and blending of your paint colors. I was inspired by a calender I have by Suzy Toronto that I found in a truck stop of all places. Her artwork is amazing, and her words of inspiration and positive introspection made me really stop and think.  You can see that inspiration at the bottom of this post.


What is it about making waves?  Not the negative kind of waves...the positive kind.  How do we make that work in a stormy world was my big question.  

I had a lot of thought processes about this subject and decided that in order to make our way in the world, we must always listen to our hearts, regardless of the "waves" that we make along life's twisted path. Many artists walk to the beat of a different drummer as the saying goes, and the artist creates work that pleases himself, not the rest of the world.  If the world likes it, all the better.  If it makes controversy, the artist is making you stop and think and evoke some sort of emotion, which generally speaking, is the point.  Are you making a statement about a particular subject?  Can you express your own emotion into your work and make it meaningful to you?  That is the primary reason most of us create and journal.  It is all a reflection of ourselves.  We're making waves, one page at a time.  We're being introspective, looking deep within and finding meaning to the concerns in our hearts and translating that emotion to the page or canvas.  A month from now we will look back at where we started and see progression; a year from now we see herculean growth, both as an artist and as a person.  We're making waves. We're helping each other.  We're finding the sunshine on a stormy sea and know that the storm shall pass and when it does, we have survived it, grown from it, healed from the wounds caused by that storm and have enriched our own lives and perhaps the lives of others through the powers of positive thinking and wave making.

Let's look at my creation this week...a double page spread in my large Dylusions journal with Liquitex Basic tube Acrylics and a triangular palette knife.  As I said I was inspired by this one calendar page about making waves.  So out those waves came with a schmear, a dab, a little slice here and there in gradient shades of blue.  I wanted it uneven, like a stormy sea.  I left the paint to dry in long blob lines for lack of a better description, others in a swirling motion with the palette knife, blending each color ever so slightly with the tip of the palette knife.

I was so enthused about this stormy sea, I did it first, which I shouldn't have done.  But I hadn't settled on a "sky" color when I started.  I wasn't sure whether it should be a dark and stormy sky, or a clear sky, signifying the passing of the storm.  I rather liked the thought of the juxtaposition of the stormy sea and a calm, clear sky, so ended up making a sunlit sky with some Moon Yellow craft acrylic.   Craft acrylic is inherently thin and I found it more difficult to work with with the palette knife, especially since I added it AFTER the water was done.  I did have to go back and do some touch up work with my sky blue color at the horizon line, but think I was successful enough in getting it blended together.  After the whole thing was good and dry, I used some white Basic tube acrylic and a #6 round brush and added the sea "foam" to the waves, giving it a little more motion and definition and a  more "wave-like" effect.  Not perfect, but neither am I.  But I think you get the gist of the thing and where I wanted to end up.

Go forth into your art and in your world and make some positive waves. Keep expressing yourself, growing artistically and intellectually by your own insight.  And if you make some waves along the way, all the better.

Inspiration calendar page by Suzy Toronto

This is the page that inspired me, and here are Suzy Toronto's words...

"Now be a good girl, and don't make any waves"

That's got to be the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard. Not only do I plan on making waves, I'm trying to figure out how to start a typhoon and really rock the world.

I believe that playing "small" and timid doesn't serve anyone. When we let our power and light fully shine from within, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. And, by doing so, we get up each day to a life that is not only worth living, but truly worth loving as well. So be the change the world needs. Set the new standard. Make a difference whenever and wherever you can.  And while you're at it... go ahead and make some waves!




Here's another "blue" page I created in my Graphique pocket journal this past week with craft acrylic in Admiral Blue.  I stippled the edges with a flat stippling/stencil brush and also used a little heart and a flower stamp and some Staz On blue ink.  Flowers outlined with black china marker.  The girl is a little foam stamp that was waiting patiently in my ephemera box.  I find working in all shades of blue to be quite calming for me.  The colors definitely don't make me "blue" (as in sad) but rather the color tends to invigorate me and soothe my sometimes ruffled feathers.

Come visit us at Artful Chicks and see what the rest of the admin team is up to this week and their interpretation of this prompt.  You won't be disappointed.