Wanderlust: dandelion

Series: Wanderlust 2021 #04

This one definitely falls into the category of art journal rather than art. There are plenty of things that, individually, I like about it, but as a whole, it is missing a lot of contrast and my attempts to add shading around some elements helped but didn’t fix the problem.

The biggest issue is that the dandelion, which is supposed to be the focal point, just doesn’t stand out enough. I tried various different white pens, none of which were really bright enough, and ended up painting the v-shaped ends with one of Culture Hustle‘s white 2.0 beta test samples. As with the shading, that helped but didn’t fix the problem.

But I am happy with the supporting elements. The background was created by painting white gesso on a brown paper bag, adding a not too wet, not too dry layer of watercolour, sprinkling with salt and leaving to dry naturally. Previous experiments with watercolour and salt have been a bit hit and miss — I’m not sure whether this was a lucky success or whether having the layer of gesso just makes it easier to get the right level of moisture without the paint drying out as quickly as it does on watercolour paper.

I also like the little bundles of collage papers in the corners. And the stencilled texture paste. And even the CREATIVITY•SPACE•ENERGY banner, which, given my aversion to adding words to pages, is no small thing; though, after originally following the lesson and putting a larger “word of the year” on vellum in the top-left corner, I removed it because it was just too much clutter.

Maybe inspiration will strike and I’ll figure out what this needs, but for now I’m just going to make a note of what worked for me and what didn’t, turn the page, and move on to the next lesson.

Class:

• Wanderlust 2021
• Theme: reflections
• Teacher: Shay Michelle (website, Instagram)