Yesterday, I read this post from Lucy’s Coloring Book where she describes a therapeutic (and beautiful!) experience she had with her art journal. Well, the news headlines have been getting to me lately, so I decided to take a page out of Lucy’s book (so to speak) and see if I could turn some of that trash to treasure. This is M. Graham watercolor and Golden fluid acrylic paint on a 4 x 6″ Blick studio canvas:
I started by digging into the recycle bin, grabbing the front page, and flipping through to one of those headlines. Ripped it out of the paper and tore it in strips, and collaged it to my canvas with Golden soft gel medium. It doesn’t take long to dry in the summertime with no retarder added, so I didn’t have to wait long before throwing paint at it, to cover it up. “Make pretty, make pretty” I said to myself…..and it just wouldn’t be made pretty! So I covered it with Golden Titanium White fluid paint. Very opaque, totally covered in no time.
But I needed more texture. So I grabbed a sheet of white rice paper, crumpled it up, spread it out, and grabbed the Derwent Inktense blocks and started rubbing blue, red, magenta lengthwise on the paper. Hit it with a damp brush and took another look. Gave it a few seconds to dry a bit, shredded that one too…..coated my surface with more Golden soft gel, and started laying the strips in. Still wasn’t thrilled with it, so I dripped some Yellow Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bombay India ink in, and hit it with a spray bottle of water so it would travel. Let that dry….and picked it up again.
And it started talking to me. The yellow ink had created a sun, and there were so many nice wrinkles below it, so I went after that area with M. Graham Quinacridone Rose and Phthalo and Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna watercolor paint, and just let those colors mingle. Dampened the sun area and added some M. Graham Quinacridone Gold watercolor. There was a bit too much distracting activity from the prior layer outside my focal point, so I faded that out with more Golden Fluid paint in Titanium White. Voila! (Blick Art Materials is offering Free Shipping on orders of $45 or more through 11:59 Pacific Time tonight. Your purchases from these links help to support more mad scientist experiments. Enjoy and many thanks!)
And boy, was this therapeutic. I encourage you, if those headlines bug the heck outta you like they do me…….tear them up and turn them into something happy. You might be surprised at how the day (and your mood) turns around afterward. Happy Almost Weekend to all! I hope you paint like you mean it this weekend! Peace.
Very cool!
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Thank you Steven, glad you enjoyed my therapy session 💛
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That’s the best way there is. 🙂
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This is such a good idea, make pretty, and forget, the ugly, how very therapeutic ❤️
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It really was! Thanks Rebecca. 💜
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Very abstract use of colour Laura, maybe this is what Donald Trump sees when he looks in the mirror before shaving?
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Denis I may have to shred this comment and collage it! (lol) 💜💜💜
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The art version of overcoming evil with good. 🙂
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Yes. Thank you Kathy. Well said. 💜💜💜
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Such a BEAUTIFUL way to create beauty from the commotion going on in the news. I love it, and I love your thoughts “Make Pretty” and your perseverance until it got there. Love it!
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I wasn’t going to let it go until it made pretty!!! Darn it! Thank you Jodi. 💛💛💛
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Well you did it darn it!! 😉👍☀️
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I just wish I could make the actual person go away; oh well, hopefully he’ll take care of that himself.
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And it does resemble a peaceful sunrise over a tranquil mountain range
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Thank you, I’m glad it does. 💜
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You got me at ‘make pretty’ my dear! BEAUTIFUL painting you came up with! Those layers with its individual stories made it all the more meaningful. 🙂 ❤
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Thank you Carrie. It was even the American flag at one point. It went through some stages. But I needed a mountain escape and didn’t even know it! I was sure glad with the way it turned out. Really glad you like it!!!
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With all the crazy of this world, we all wish that we can just splash on white paint and start over. We can only hope for the better.
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Boy amen.
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As always, so fun to hear of your art adventures.
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Thanks, Teri. 😀
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Laura, creating art and beauty is always therapeutic–good on you. 🙂
Blessings ~ Wendy
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Thanks Wendy. I’m finding the need to manage the national embarrassment of someone I won’t name……much appreciated.
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It came out great! I love how white will cover stuff up so you can start ‘fresh’ with some cool textures underneath. Also love phthalo blue more than anything Somedays 😊
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Thank you. Me too, re phthalo blue.
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What a wonderful post, Laura! You made something beautiful of those headlines!!! 🌈💕🌞 Have a wonderful weekend!!! ❤️
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Now if I could just make him vanish, Ann! He’s embarrassing our whole country. Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.
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I am “painting” with fabric like I mean it this weekend 🙂
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Yes!!
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WOW! Love washing the mad scientist turn trash into treasure! This is beautiful!! Thanks for making the world better than it seems to want to be! 😍🎨
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Thanks, Charlie, found this in my spam and I thank you for your feedback. 💜
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Ugh… what’s up with the spam. Debi was in Spam too and Jodi said you were spam yesterday along with me! lol I think something is really off, I’m sending WP a note.
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Thank you, Charlie. I am so glad you did this, as I’d have had to ask you how to even do it. You’re a peach! 🍑🍑🍑
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I like the final effect a lot.
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Thank you. I actually like this one too, even though it didn’t get lots of buzz. I want to do lots more of these with collage. Glad you enjoyed it!
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Very therapeutic and I love how it turned out!
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Thanks! It really was. That and yoga were just what I needed. 🙂
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Very Turner-esque. I love this one.
I’m trying not to listen too much to the voices shouting over the airways…(K)
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You are smart. I need to do the same. I’m really glad you like this one, Kerfe. It’s one of my favorites. I love the accidental quality, and I think this is the one that told me I need to do more collage work. Great way to get texture into a painting.
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Sometimes we hear the news even when trying not to, so this is a great way to deal with it. I love what you did. It is fun to hear about the iterations it went through!
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Thanks, Melissa. This was a really good exercise, very therapeutic. Thanks for stopping by & glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
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