Creative Jump Start 2017

A Happy New Year to all my readers, old and new and hope that you enjoyed a good festive season.  I have once again signed up for Natalie Kalbach's inspirational new year video course called 'Creative Jump Start' and thats what it is.  A series of videos, every day for 30 days presented by some of my favourite artists from blogland (Julie Fei Fan Balzer, Dina Wakley, etc. etc.) that motivate us with ideas and tips that can help us in our own creations.

The first video was by Marsha Valk and this was my finished piece:

 

I should point out (as those of you on the course will know) that this isn't anything like the dreamlike, flowy, abstract quality of Marsha's example(s) but when I started I had no idea that mine would end up like this. It actually started out the same!    

This isn't one piece, if you look carefully you can see that it's three separate pieces 'joined' vertically and I painted them so they could look as one.  In fact the final effect with lines coming from all directions mean it could be infinite! Panels could be added on all sides to this, not that I'm going to, this size took hours to create!

The way it started was three pieces of mounting board painted with black gesso and then lines added with a white paint pen. With my initial lines, I had the idea to do a kind of plumbing/sciency look - a bit like those comedy science lab set ups you used to see in humorous horror films years ago.  

(I actually like this as it is!)

I then added some 'science-y' themed stencils to suggest liquids and directions.  And then I filled in the loops and decided to make the lines more prominant by outlining them in pink and yellow:

And this is when the problems began! I used Posca paint pens and, much as I love them, they drove me barmy on the black gesso.  The black gesso background somehow mixed itself in with the colour and changed it to a 'dirty' shade.  I ended up having to go over every line about 4 times - which made it a very late night!

 

At this stage, my frustration with the yellow and the white made me change tack. I had this idea to keep the science theme and add bits of a photocopy from a book on machines:

(I did try the tissue paper in the printer technique but my printer refused to print it!)

I cut the photocopy into random pieces and stuck them onto the panels...

...and continued with the frustrating task of outlining the tubes with the paint pens. I came back to it the next day and quite liked it:

...but thought all the tubes were leading the eye downwards so it 'needed' (not sure it did, really!) some more horizontal lines and more pictures to cover the black - and then connecting lines to 'fix' the pictures to the tubes. (I also 'forgot' how much extra work that would make - each white line had to be drawn over and over again as it turned grey on the black gesso).

I added text bits from the machines book and one quote in the bottom panel:  'Creatiity is intelligence having fun' by Albert Einstein. 

So this was the finished result, a super super busy made up science-y thing!

..and this is the three panels shown separately:

I like the fact that they work individually as well as together. 

Thanks for looking and commenting, do me a favour and remind me never to use paint pens on a black gesso background ever again - life really is too short!...

Nicky 

Creative Flourishes