Friday, September 19, 2008

Trying new things













Inspired by Kelli Rae's book Taking Flight.(see Tuesdasys post) I tried a little collage on a 4x4 gallery wrapped canvas. I don't know why I was afraid to do this before. Fear is always a silly thing. This piece is all music and old book and scraps from the envelopes of my grandparents letters. Too afraid to try a face on here I thought I might add my grandmothers picture but I think it needs something else. I used the techniques in her book using a brayer to add paint and I really liked that idea. Of course I forgot to clean the brayer so now it is permanently a different color. I also used some alcohol ink. I love it when you buy material for one thing but you can use them in many other ways..


















Then I tried a face on this background in my moleskine journal. I tried using those Shiva paintsticks and they were a challenge but only because I think I needed to wait for them to dry before I continued. As a result my eyes went in wrong and of course the nose and face. I think I tried to do 3/4 face but still make the rest of it like you were looking straight on. I also ended up with a lot of smearing which meant I had to go back and fix things and then things progressively got worse. Sometimes it’s enough to say oh this is done, it’s not what I wanted but it’s time to let go of it and try it again another time.

I've gotten my writing done and submitted to my critique group finally. We meet tomorrow so I will be interested in comments I receive. Hopefully it won't be too hard to take and mostly helpful. This is a big step for me so I hope it goes well. I have been afraid to show anyone what I have written. I knew that had to change so I suggested our group do critiques to force myself into doing it. I really spent a lot of time on it this week, I find the revision process sometimes more difficult than the actual writing. I found myself re writing passages over and over and then I thought, this is what real writers do. So maybe I am becoming a real writer. The thought of that gives me immense satisfaction.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Trying new techniques, letting other people see your writing... sounds like you're still tackling the scary stuff left and right. Good for you!

Janet said...

Kellie Rae is so inspiring and I'm just loving her book. I have wondered about the paintsticks and plan to order some. The drying time is a little daunting for me though! When I start working on something I like to just continue and not have to wait around for things to dry!!

Kudos to you for jumping in and experimenting right away. And also for being brave and sharing your writing with others. I think that's a step in the right direction.

Pam Aries said...

Hi Kate! I love this collage! You are very talented girl! I have not seen this book , but wil look for it at BN!