Painted Pages workshop , the joy of painting

Last month I took a painting class called Painted Pages workshop with Sarah Ahearn Bellemare. I was so in love with Sarah's book that I signed up for the class right away when she launched her first online class. The class is really in different and more relaxing pace compared with the intensive course of Make Art That Sells I took previously. It should be like that. I don't think there should be a word 'rush' in traditional painting and Sarah did a good job of leading us to a relaxing and fun atmosphere :)

While I was taking this class, a friend who worked mainly in digital illustration also worked on her painting project. She said that she struggled so much as this was not in her field. She was amazed to see me so relaxed with the painting. This is because I know I have never been good at traditional painting. I took a lot of classes in college, colored pencil, water color and acrylic and finished all of them with some mediocre pieces. I enjoyed it but I don't think I have any potential in this art field.

I didn't do any more painting until I took Make Art That Sells class and had to do wall painting. I was so frustrated with this painting at first. But when I finally let go the feeling of wanting to be perfect, I found that I really enjoyed the process.

To me, painting turns out to be not just art, it is a method of meditation and self-exploration. When I am in front of a blank canvas, I feel calm and focused. Like designing, painting is about problem-solving. The difference is, in design, mostly you solve problems to send out a clear, visualized message while in painting you don't need to do that exactly. There is a vast space for imagination for both painter and viewer. I guess that makes me feel more relaxed :)

Below is my painting process I did for the class. I had light green color in mind when I first started and tried to work through it.



Then I used my favorite coffee filter paper. Cut out shapes and played with them.



And here my final. I confess that I don't like this final much and plan to start it over. I enjoy the time though and already excited to be in front of a blank white canvas again :)



I dream of having a nice lovely paintings for my MerryDay shop one day but for now, as I'm still learning and improving, I think I will have it just for my 'play time' :)

Thanks for coming. I hope you have a merry colorful day today :)

MerryDay Goes to School week 4 : wall art assignment

So, Make Art That Sells class has already ended but the energy of the students in the class is still going. We are talking about how far we have developed in just only 5 weeks. But to complete my record of this class experience, I need to talk about week 4 and week 5 homework first :)

For week 4, we learned about wall art market. As usual, Lilla introduced us to beautiful wall art in the market. She emphasized that as this kind of art would be hung in someone's place for a very long time, the piece would have to be charming and refreshing enough so that you wouldn't get bored too easily. It should be something that you can find new things or feel refreshed whenever you look at it. Colors are key and we started this week assignment with a lovely mini exercise : to find items based on colors of our astrological signs.  My sign is cancer and pink and yellow are my favorite. I was so glad to have this duo as they are colors that I always relate to my MerryDay. Happy and merry colors :D



In each week, Lilla always encouraged us to go beyond our familiar boundary. To try new things, new techniques, look at things with fresh eyes. If I normally work digitally, this is a chance to try traditional medium and I did. :)



The main assignment is to create a collage-style wall art for a shop like Anthropologie.com or UrbanOutfitters.com. The piece should have floral elements, either as a focal point or just tiny details. I haven't done collage and complete canvas painting since college time, felt a little nervous at first but decided to dive in anyway. Knowing that acrylic paint could be painted over, I felt more at ease and actually painted white over the first layout that I didn't like and started all over again :P



Then it came the part of collage, gluing things on surface. This was very difficult as I was so used to hitting delete or command +Z  buttons. I really just didn't know what and where I should put on the piece. I ended up pasting only a few scraps of wrapping paper and cutting shapes from coffee filter paper. I really liked the subtle texture and color of this filter paper (the light brown flower pod shapes below) although it absorbed too much ink and you couldn't draw a lot of details on it but it's really a nice touch :)



I really liked the details on the big flower pod but when I tried hanging it up on the wall, it just lost it own charm. The details got lost and there's nothing popping up to you when viewed from afar.



So, as mush as I loved what I did on the flower pod, I decided to cover it with bright yellow paint. The solid yellow shapes helped, I think, make the overall image look better. Now it had a strong focal point and here is my final painting.


To be honest, I don't think this painting suits Anthropologie or UrbanOutfitters. I believe they want to see something with more exciting elements. Something with strong visual contrast? But I do think this is for my own MerryDay shop and the fact that I tried to do something I was not comfortable with at first makes me proud. After all, in this class, the process of working and learning along the way is much more important than the end results. :)



I had so much fun painting acrylic that I did another design. This time, it looked more like me and MerryDay.  I did the rough sketch above and then painted the final on watercolor paper below. I think I love this design better and began to think of incorporating acrylic painting with digital drawing and maybe a bit of collage. There are so many things to learn and the idea makes me excited and eager to experiment. Who knows It can be a great step that leads me to even more unique style of mine :D




You have to love this inspiring moment. I haven't reached my goal yet but it feels like it when I know which way I will go :)

Thanks for coming. I will talk about week 5 assignment and my thoughts after class very soon.

Have a merry day!